


Second Overtime

by jensooni



Category: BLACKPINK (Band), Mamamoo, Red Velvet (K-pop Band), TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sports, Angst, Basketball, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Internalized Homophobia, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29309208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jensooni/pseuds/jensooni
Summary: Jisoo is the school's star athlete.Jennie is one of the smartest students in her year.They both hate each other to the core.But when something happens that forces the both of them to work together, will their mutual animosity remain or will something bloom between them overtime?
Relationships: Bae Joohyun | Irene/Kang Seulgi, Im Nayeon/Yoo Jeongyeon, Jennie Kim/Kim Jisoo, Jennie Kim/Lalisa Manoban | Lisa, Kim Yongsun | Solar/Moon Byulyi | Moonbyul
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

10 seconds.

Not enough on the clock for many people, but it was more than enough time for Kim Jisoo.

She grinned as Lisa took the cup she was holding and drank the remaining contents, then shoved it in the trash bag.

"Down 2 and you're grinning like we already have this in the bag." Lisa told her, quite amused.

"Should I be worried?" Jisoo asked, smirking, as she stood up, stretching her limbs, while her best friend towered over her.

"Normal people would say yes, but you aren't normal, unnie."

"Aniya, what does that mean Lalisa?!"

"It means I am not about to argue with you and your masochistic tendancies when it comes to basketball."

Jisoo laughed. "Come on now, this will be easy. Besides, I can count on you loudly annoying the shit out of your defender."

"Aish! I am your cute dosaeng! Nothing is annoying about me! I am just the hottest, which distracts the opposition!"

"Neh? We can try and test out that theory later!"

I will do my best to not disappoint the great Kim Jisoo!" she teased, both of them laughing.

"Wait, I thought I was the great one around here?" Seulgi stepped in, playfully smacking Lisa's arm.

"Who died and voted for you?" Lisa deadpanned.

Seulgi and Lisa started play fighting with Jisoo egging them on and their other teammates looking at them, amused.

"Alright alright, that's enough! Our timeout's almost over, so everyone huddle up!"

The basketball team all looked to the source of the sound, which was their Coach, Minzy. She wasn't very tall, but she looked tough and commanded the presence of everyone around her. They all respected her, and everybody was all ears when they went in the huddle.

"Remember the play I told you earlier. Jisoo, I trust you to create this plan perfectly with Lisa. Seulgi, Moonbyul and Jeongyeon, be alert at all times on what is happening. I know you can do this, I am confident you can pull it off! Just remember to focus and give it everything you've got!"

"Yes Coach!" they all responded.

Minzy smiled. She had full trust and confidence in her players.

She saw that the referee had signalled the end of the timeout.

"Alright, everybody in!" she put her hand in the center and everyone else followed.

"Hanal, Dul, Set!" she shouted.

"Blaaaaack Mambaaas! Fighting!" they all cheered as they threw their hands up in the air.

The crowd cheered loudly as the team got ready to go back on the court. It was no surprise that the gym was in full capacity, YG High's girls basketball team was very popular after all.

There was a time though when not many people had supported them. They barely had any wins, and the school was even thinking of dissolving it entirely to provide the budget to help other sports programs instead.

Some hope was rekindled when both Seulgi and Moonbyul joined the team during their freshman year. They started helping them rack up some wins, but unfortunately, it was not enough to push them into the playoffs. The administration was not happy, but Minzy fought tooth and nail to keep them intact for at least another year.

That's when the school administration gave them an ultimatum: if they didn't make it at least into the playoffs, they would dissolve the girls basketball team.

Minzy was worried, but did not lose hope. It was during that year when a short but determined freshman changed the course of the Black Mambas and helped revive the almost dying spirit of the team.

She had helped steer them to their best season yet, not just making it into the playoffs, but into the Final Four. Though they finished at the very last spot, the small freshman had made quite a name for herself in YG High's halls and in the highschool girls basketball league. Kim Jisoo held their attention, and to Minzy's delight, the administration was no longer hounding them about their performance.

When Lisa and Jeongyeon, dubbed as the twin towers, joined the team as incoming freshmen, it looked like the Mambas were an unstoppable force, pushing forward like their life depended on it. With Jisoo being promoted to captain and leading the fray, the girls had reached the Finals. Unfortunately, it was just not their year and they had settled into second place.

But despite that, the team was still quite determined and continued practicing harder than ever before. They earned the respect of almost everyone in YG High and the league.

This year, people were confident that they will be able to win it all, especially since the whole team had improved a lot.

There was an electrifying energy in the air. 10 seconds left in the 4th quarter and YG High was down 2 against Yueha High at 84-86, and had ball posession.

There were three outcomes that could happen: either they played it safe and forced an overtime, go all in and took the win, or fumble their chance and lose.

All five players were moving towards their designated spots. Their white uniforms with black trimmimgs making them look intimidating.

"Is kissing one of them considered a foul? That number 7 is hot." Lisa asked, grinning as she checked her out.

"Hey! I had my eye on her too, Manoban! But as your trusted friend and amazing teammate, I could take the fall and try it out for you. You know...for research purposes." Moonbyul quipped.

"God! Stop fraternizing with the enemy! I'll save you guys by going out with her later to establish an alliance..and spy on her." Jeongyeon said with a playful smirk.

Jisoo gave them a knowing grin, "Oh, come on! You all know that once I'm done dominating her on this game, she herself will be asking me for a one-on-one session."

Seulgi snorted "Shut up lesbians! You know that at the end of the day, she'll be remembering my name coz she'll be screaming it tonight non-stop!"

They all groaned and walked away.

"Hey! I'm not the great Kang Seulgi for nothing!" she said and saw number 7 looking at her.

"Heeey beautiful." she winked while she got ready on the sidelines as she was designated to open the play. Number 7 rolled her eyes as she got ready to defend.

The referee blew the whistle and handed the ball to Seulgi.

The game had started and the Cosmics, which was the name of the other team, had immediately put a lot of pressure on the Black Mambas, as expected.

Seulgi's eyes roamed the court, calmly waiting to find an open teammate, finally spotting Moonbyul. She immediately passed the ball to her.

8 seconds.

Moonbyul quickly snapped it towards Jisoo, who was able to calculate what to do and set-up an isolation play, which meant the focus was to be only on her.

She dribbled, trying to find an opening. She noticed that they were about to double team her, so she stepped back to the three point line.

5 seconds.

The double team was about to reach her so she set-up a shot, which they tried to block, but it was a fake!

Jisoo had snapped a pass to Lisa, who was near the basket.

3 seconds.

Lisa was about to make a basket, but the defense was quick. Then she found her opportunity, quickly doing a bounce pass to the now open Jisoo who somehow appeared on the right side of the baseline. Their plan had worked flawlessly.

Jisoo caught the ball who was at the three-point line and without any hesitation, made the shot.

1 second.

The ball flew over the court and time seemed to stop. Everyone held their breath as they watch the ball soar towards the ring.

Finally, after what seemed like eternity, the ball swished in and the buzzer had sounded.

Loud cheers erupted and Jisoo threw her fist in the air as her teammates began to tackle her one by one.

"Damn Sooya unnie, your veins are made of ice! That was such a good shot!" Jeongyeon shouted as she shook her teammate's shoulders happily, making Jisoo's head bob up and down like a bobble head.

"You are fucking amazing, Kim!" Moonbyul told her, ruffling her hair.

"Jisoos, you are our savior!" Seulgi screamed as she hugged her while jumping up and down.

"God! Lemme kiss you right now! Come on, kiss! Kiss!" Lisa said using her aegyo and cupped Jisoo's cheeks then attempted to kiss her on the lips. Jisoo forcefully pushed her away.

"Aish! Lisa, go away dammit!"

Lisa was still able to give her some kisses on the cheeks.

"Aargh! Lisayaaa!" Jisoo shouted as she pushed her away even more forcefully than before.

Lisa laughed heartily.

Some of their other teammates also celebrated with them. Coach Minzy held Jisoo's shoulder and smiled at her.

"I had no doubt you would make that."

"It was all or nothing, Coach! Plus, the rest of the team made it possible to execute the play."

Minzy was proud of her star player and team captain. She had always made sure to include the team's efforts with their win, regardless if she made the winning shot or carried them to victory.

They shook hands with the their opponents who congratulated them for a game well played.

Jisoo then found herself on the other end of the handshake of the sought after number 7.

"Hey, nice shot, it was a really great game!" she told Jisoo, who gave her a lazy smile.

"You did well too, no doubt about that."

She giggled. "Thanks! But really, you're an amazing player."

"Well, it helps when you got a pretty face on the court to inspire you."

The girl blushed at that as Jisoo grinned at her.

"Geez, stop being a flirt unnie!" Lisa said as she put her arm on Jisoo's shoulder and winked at the girl, "Hey, I'm Lisa! I know she's pretty but I'm the hottest." Lisa grinned, putting out her other hand so the girl could shake it.

"Hi Lisa, I'm Bona." she answered shyly and shook her hand.

"Stop hogging her attention Lisa, we exist too! Hey beautiful, remember me? Seulgi at your service."

Bona playfully rolled her eyes but smiled all the same and shook her hand as well.

"Don't mind these weirdos, I'm the most normal around here. Moonbyul by the way."

"Don't believe her, she's actually the weirdest out of all of them, well maybe second to Seulgi. Jeongyeon here."

Bona also shook both their hands.

"God, you lesbians are hopeless." Lisa complained.

"You ruined our moment!" Jisoo retorted. They all started bickering. Bona just raised an eyebrow and laughed.

"Well uhm, it was nice meeting you guys. I'll uhm...go on ahead."

"Hey, hey wait a sec! We're headed to one of our usual hangouts. Wanna come with us? Invite your teammates too." Seulgi told her.

"Uhm..yeah sure. I'll ask them first."

"Alright! We'll wait for you guys outside in about 15-20 minutes!"

Bona nodded, but gave a small smile to Jisoo and turned around to leave.

"God dammit unnie, she practically had heart eyes for you." Lisa told her, pouting.

"I thought you were the hottest around here?" Jisoo teased, and the rest began teasing her about it too.

"Aish! I'm so bullied around here!"

***********************************

Jennie was focusing on the paper she was making which was due by tomorrow. Since she and her best friend got hungry, they decided to head out to Hong's Diner, which was the go to destination for YG High's kids, and continued their work there.

The reason they decided to go out instead of ordering food was because their milkshakes and burgers were to die for. Aside from that, they served Jennie's favorite milk-flavored ice cream.

While eating, Nayeon was also concentrating and working hard on her own paper.

"God, I'm about ready to bang my head on the table just so I can end my misery." Nayeon whined.

"My head is about to explode." Jennie said, massaging her forhead, blearily staring at her laptop screen.

Well, I'm almost done. Mr. Park better be happy with my output."

"I am sure he will, Nadongie. You're quite good with history."

"Well, compared to you, I'm just about average."

"Not true."

"Your grades say otherwise."

Jennie decided to change the topic.

"Tzuyu wanted to go out and watch a movie this Saturday. She said she's inviting some friends."

"Friends meaning guys."

"Well, it might be fun. Are you going?"

"Yeah sure, I have nothing planned this Saturday anyway."

Jennie nodded and they got back to working on their paper.

However, as soon as they did, they noticed that there was a sudden increase of people in the diner. Jennie looked around, a bit surprised.

"Is there something going on at school today?" she asked.

"I think there was a basketball game. I wonder who won?" Nayeon said as she bit into her burger.

Jennie rolled her eyes, and got back to work. She didn't hate basketball. She was just not as into it as the rest of her school was. She had more important things to do after all.

She tried concentrating on her work but she could hear some of the people commenting about what happened during the game.

"Man! What a great game!"

"For a second I was worried there."

"Regardless if they lost, they will still remain at the top of the standings."

"But still, that was an amazing shot by Kim! She barely flinched and hit that winning shot! Unreal I tell you!"

"Kim Jisoo is awesome! Not only is she gifted on the court, she's extremely good looking. What I wouldn't do just to get a chance to date her."

Jennie's eyebrows furrowed.

Nayeon grinned at her "Seems like your favorite person is the talk of the town again."

"Yeah, like her ego needs to be stroked even more."

Nayeon laughed, "I bet the both of you have all this sexual tension and just need to bang it out."

"Ugh Nayeon! Like eww? That's just...disgusting."

"I'd go gay for Kim Jisoo."

"Not you too."

"What? She is hot."

"I mean...nevermind." Jennie sighed, "I'll go get my scoop of ice cream."

Jennie headed over to the counter and ordered her milk-flavored ice cream. Once she got her serving, she started heading back to her table when she bumped into someone and almost fell, but a pair of strong arms was able to help her keep her balance.

"Whoa..sorry abou-"

Jennie looked up at the person who spoke in a husky voice and had stopped mid-sentence when their eyes met.

Brown warm eyes greeted her, but it didn't make her feel at ease. She knew immediately who they belonged to.

The person let her go immediately.

"Well, if it isn't Jennie Kim."

"Can you at least watch where you're going Jisoo?"

The raven-haired girl just grinned at her as Jennie glared back.

"I would, but my senses can't seem to detect an aura of darkness."

"Or perhaps your head is too far up your ass that you can't see what's in front of you."

"If this is how you flirt, I guess I can work with that."

Jennie let out a sarcastic laugh, "Even if you were the last person on Earth, I'd rather be hit by a meteor than start flirting with you."

"Ooh, that sucks. I guess your game is getting rusty, Sooya." Moonbyul quipped, patting her on the back and sat down on the chair next to her.

"Who's game got rusty? Oh! Jisoo, didn't know your girlfriend was here. Hey Jennie!" Seulgi said happily, waving at her.

The rest of the first five of the Black Mambas arrived and sat on the booth near Jennie and Jisoo, along with some members of the Cosmics.

"I didn't know Kim Jisoo had a girlfriend." One of the members of the Cosmics said.

"Excuse me, she isn't my girlfriend!" Jennie said indignantly.

"I wouldn't be attracted to Maleficent anyway. And I mean not the Angelina Jolie version." Jisoo shrugged. Jennie glared at her.

"You two fight like you have all this sexual tension and just need to bang it out." Lisa noted, while munching on a fry.

"Right?! I was thinking exactly the same thing!" Jeongyeon agreed with her and they both high-fived while the rest of the people in the booth laughed.

"That's disgusting. Don't lump me in with you people!" Jennie huffed and walked out, and the rest of them laughed even harder.

Jisoo grinned and sat down right beside Bona, putting her arm around her.

Meanwhile, Jennie walked back to her booth and violently sat down on the chair.

"God, I hate her!" Jennie exclaimed as she banged her ice cream cup on the table.

"Whoa! What happened?" Nayeon asked, surprised by her friend's sudden outburst.

"Jisoo happened."

"Oh." Nayeon looked back and saw the team enjoying themselves. She then turned her attention back to Jennie.

"Just ignore her. Let's just try and finish this."

Jennie nodded but she was still pissed.

She tried to get back to working on her paper, but it was hopeless. Jisoo had ruined her mood.

"I'm heading home. Are you staying?"

Nayeon looked up at her, "Yeah, I'm almost done. I'll head home afterwards."

"Alright, I'm off."

Jennie walked out of the diner while Nayeon looked at Jennie's retreating figure and then back to her uneaten ice cream.

***********************************

Jisoo and Lisa were inside their favorite internet cafe, doing another dungeon on World of Warcraft.

They had finished up earlier in the diner, with Jisoo earning a number from Bona, and Moonbyul making out with one of the other players in the Cosmics team.

Lisa checked her watch and saw that it was already around 10:30pm.

"Unnie, I'm sorry but this will be my last dungeon, I need to head home or my mom will have my head."

Jisoo nodded, "No worries, I'll be fine. Anyway some of our guildies are still online so I can do a couple more dungeons with them instead."

Lisa knew that Jisoo never went home early when it reached 9pm. In fact, she knew that if Jisoo had her way, she would rather not go home at all.

"You could always come with me and sleep at my house, you know."

"It's okay, Lisa. Besides, I don't want you to be in trouble just because of me."

"We just came from a game and I know you're tired. I can see it on your face. Besides, your grandma doesn't sleep before one am. You also need your rest, and we still have school tomorrow."

Jisoo gave her a close-lipped smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Limario, seriously, I'll be fine. It's not like the first time I have done this. Besides, I really want to finish up on my mythic runs for the week."

"Unnie-"

"Limario! It's alright. Remember, I'm Jisoo, I'm okay. Don't worry so much, worrying is for old people." she said, as she tried giving the younger girl a wink, but ended up blinking both eyes instead.

Lisa chuckled at how her best friend looked, but inhaled deeply afterwards. She knew how stubborn Jisoo was, so there was really no use in arguing with her.

She exhaled, "If you say so, but text or call me if you need anything, alright?"

"Yes mom. Now can we please finish this dungeon?"

Lisa agreed and got back to doing the last dungeon with her.

***********************************

It was already 1am by the time Jisoo had left the café and Lisa had already gone home a few hours ago. She was now standing outside her house, waiting for the lights on the ground floor to turn off. That was her signal that her grandma would be going to bed.

She felt quite exhausted, but she knew she just needed to wait a bit more. Finally, after a few minutes, the lights turned off. Jisoo waited for a couple more minutes to make sure her grandma would be asleep before heading into the house.

Finally, after some time, she decided it was safe to go in. Using the spare key she had made for herself, she opened the door stealthily and looked around; the coast was clear. She then slowly went upstairs and went inside her room, closing and locking the door behind her. She slumped her tired body onto her bed and felt her muscles ache from the fatigue and wished that she could get a good, soothing massage.

She checked her phone and saw messages from both Lisa and Bona. She opened Lisa's message who told her to let her know once she was home. She responded to her but decided to just open Bona's message tomorrow.

She then sat up and took off her varsity jacket and let it hang on the back of her door. She then took a quick shower and changed into a comfortable shirt and a pair of shorts.

She got back into her bed while reviewing the winning shot in her head. It definitely felt good, but she could still feel that somehow, something was missing. Her eyes felt heavy as they slowly closed, her body finally surrendering to the fatigue of today's events.


	2. Chapter 2

It was Saturday morning, and Lisa was getting ready for her dance class that she has been taking ever since she and her family had moved to Korea.

Lisa was originally from Thailand. Since her stepfather was a renowned chef in her home country, one of the top hotels in Korea had asked him to work for them inside their biggest restaurant. Of course not one to miss an opportunity, her step-dad agreed, but not without consulting her and her mom first. Lisa had been very happy and supportive of him as he had been of her. He was not her real dad, but Marco had treated her as one of his own. Her mother was more than happy to help him reach for his dreams as well.

Of course, Lisa had been quite sad to leave Thailand, especially since she had to say goodbye to her friends, to basketball and to dancing. Thankfully, when they moved here, her mom had researched ahead on what school offered a good basketball program and had a dance school nearby. Lisa was thrilled to know that her parents had taken this into account.

It was then when she had met Jisoo and the team and the rest was history. Jisoo was the one who helped her adjust into her new environment and even taught her Korean, despite the fact that Lisa was a year younger than she was. They both clicked right away since they shared the same sense of humor and became fast friends. Unlike Jisoo though, who's goal was to be drafted into the WNBA someday, Lisa was more inclined to become a dancer in the future. Though basketball was still a big part of her since she loved the game ever since she was a kid.

Lisa had finished getting ready and went down to their kitchen to see what food her mom had prepared. She quickly grabbed the toast and jam on the table, chewing it as she walked towards the door.

"Lisa honey, you better eat your breakfast properly!" Her mom scolded her. Lisa stopped in her tracks and turned around to face her mom.

"I'm almost running late, mom! Can you please pass me a milk chocolate pack in the fridge?"

Her mom put her hands on her hips and made a face, "You're lucky I love you, you ungrateful child!" Her mom teased, then opened the fridge and passed to Lisa her favorite milk chocolate drink.

"At least I'm your favorite ungrateful child!" Lisa quipped and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"As if you would be my favorite if you had any brothers and sisters."

"Eh...details."

Her mom gave her the side-eye and pouted. Lisa grinned.

"I'm sorry mom, but I gotta go! Love you!" She said, while quickly opening the door to head outside. Her mom smiled.

"Love you too! Don't stay out too late!"

"I won't!"

Lisa closed the door and started the 15 minute walk towards the dance center. She plugged in her earphones and started listening to her Spotify playlist.

Once inside, she quickly ran towards the elevator and pushed the "up" button. When it finally arrived, she went in, and was about to close the doors when a voice had called out to her.

"Wait! Hey Miss, wait up! Please don't close the doors!"

Lisa quickly tapped on the open door button and in came a blonde girl who was about as tall as her and was trying hard to catch her breath as she pushed the button to her floor. She had a guitar slung over her shoulder and had a lean build.

Once she had regained her composure, she looked up at Lisa and smiled brightly. Lisa was taken aback on how absolutely gorgeous the girl was. She had such an angelic face, and her smile was simply amazing, it made her heart beat erratically. She also had full, pinkish lips, a jawline for days and she looked so adorable when her eyes disappeared when she smiled at her.

"Thank you so much, you saved my life! I thought I was going to be late on my first day! Oh, the 8th floor please if you don't mind."

Lisa smiled back and hit the number 8 button on the elevator, "I don't mind, and you're welcome."

The girl smiled even wider, how could someone's smile be so attractive? "Unfortunately, not many people give way for others, so I really appreciate what you did. My name is Chaeyoung by the way. Actually, most of my friends back home call me Rosie, or Roseanne. But I think I prefer Chaeyoung more since I guess that's my Korean name. Oh my God, I'm so sorry, I'm blabbering."

Lisa grinned. She was kinda cute.

"No, don't worry, it's perfectly fine. You can call me Lisa."

"Lisa. That's a nice name. You in a music class too?"

"Actually, dance."

"Too bad. It would have been nice to have a friend on my first day."

"I think you wouldn't have a problem finding a friend, trust me on that."

Chaeyoung smiled shyly.

"You think? I sure hope so! I'm kinda all over the place and I tend to talk too much when I'm nervous."

"I'm sure you'll be fine. Just be yourself." Lisa assured her.

"Oh gosh, alright, I'll definitely do that."

The elevator doors suddenly opened and the girls looked up.

"Oh, here's my stop! It was so nice meeting you Lisa, and thank you once again for opening the doors for me. I'll see you around!" she says as she got out and waved a goodbye to her.

"Yeah, no problem Chaeyoung! I hope to see you around too!" she responds and waves back at her.

The girl smiled widely at Lisa for the last time, then turned around to head to her class. The elevator doors finally closed.

Lisa was grinning like an idiot. She had to tell Jisoo about this!

Oh wait, she forgot something. She should have asked her for her number!

Lisa groaned as she pounded her head on the side of the elevator doors, how stupid of her. She could almost hear Jisoo laughing in the background for missing something as important as that.

The elevator doors opened once again and she was still slowly pounding her head on the wall.

"Are you going to stay inside there forever?" she heard a familiar voice say.

She looked up and saw the face of Jennie Kim, raising an eyebrow at her.

"No." she grumbled and quickly made an exit before the doors closed once again.

Jennie shrugged as she got her attention back to her phone.

Lisa went on ahead towards the dance studio. She and Jennie, along with Seulgi, had the same dance class as her every Saturday.

Jennie wasn't abrasive with her as she was with Jisoo, but she kept a distance with them. Lisa and Seulgi did the same. They didn't have anything in common and it was clear the girl disliked them.

Lisa really didn't care about that, she wasn't in the same year as her and she wasn't someone she hung out with.

It was funny though how she and Jisoo would fight, that was always a sight to see and it amused her to no end. Her best friend never told her the reason why they hated each other though. Jisoo never mentioned the girl and Lisa didn't want to push her to tell her about something she didn't want to talk about.

She opened the doors to the studio and grinned as she saw Seulgi warming up ahead of her.

Thoughts about Chaeyoung and Jennie flew out of her mind as she put down her stuff and ran towards Seulgi to join her.

************************************

The sound of a ball being dribbled could be distinctly heard at the backyard of a house nearby. Anyone who cared to check would find themselves looking at a girl who had a small build, but was fully concentrated on making her shots count. Her black hair was tied up in a ponytail and she had a white shirt, black shorts and matching rubber shoes on. Her forehead glistened with sweat, and her shirt was already soaked through, but the grin on her face showed how much fun she was having.

Anyone who had a first glimpse of this girl wouldn't think she was a basketball player. Aside from her height, she was definitely a looker. Her gorgeous face would make anyone take a second glance, and when she was not talking, it would seem that she was into other things, like make-up and all the other stereotypes people thought popular girls liked.

But this girl was different. She was like a whirlwind, and moved at the pace of her own beat.

Not that she wasn't popular, she was, and quite admired by many people.

She just lived by her own rules at life, and reveled in it. She wasn't even shy to tell people she wasn't straight, fuck the people who didn't or wouldn't accept her for who she was. Being different didn't faze her, and it just made her all the more alluring to people.

That was just who she was. That was Kim Jisoo.

She had already been shooting hoops for almost an hour without any breaks, and she wasn't planning on stopping anytime soon.

She lived and breathed basketball, her daily life was full of it, whether watching a game on TV or practicing at school. She just loved it so much and planned to make it big in the future.

Jisoo looked up the hoop and scrunched up her face as she readied herself for another round.

As she did, midway into her shot, somebody suddenly stepped in and expertly blocked her attempt.

Her mouth hung wide open, then she rolled her eyes as she looked incredulously at the culprit who was laughing at her expression.

"Ha ha, very funny Jin." she told him as she retrieved the blocked ball.

He was still laughing when she finally got it back into her hands.

"You should have seen the look on your face." he says, wheezing.

Jisoo just gave him a withered look and went back to dribbling the ball.

Jin stopped himself from laughing and grinned at her instead.

"Come on, loosen up a little cousin. Besides, who's backyard are you using, huh? You should kiss my feet whenever I come in."

"I rather eat mangoes than do that, thanks!"

Jin feigned a hurt expression, "That really hit me hard, cous. After all the things I have done for you."

Jisoo rolled her eyes at him again, and shot the ball.

"You're back early."

"Well, mom was busy with other guests, so I was able to escape right away." he says, as he watches his cousin take another shot.

Jin looked a lot like Jisoo, the only difference was that he was a guy. Many people would actually mistake them for siblings, and both of them didn't mind as they sort of did regard each other like brother and sister.

They grew up together, though Jin was four years older than her and was at his last year for his pre-med course at a University nearby.

He lived next door to Jisoo, and was staying at their family home. His parents had moved to the countryside, as they preferred it there. Since he was still in school, he decided to stay here instead of staying in a dorm.

"That's lucky. I was thinking you'd be home by dinner."

"Awww...missing me already Jisoo? That is so cute!"

"What have they been feeding you to get that idea? Here, catch!" she says as she passes the ball to him. Jin caught it easily and spun the ball on his index finger.

"Food that doesn't contain poison, thank God." he says as he made a shot and missed.

"Still lame on the court I see."

Jin's mouth dropped open, "Who you calling lame, huh? Just because you think you're a hotshot now doesn't mean I can't kick your ass!"

"Well, then prove it loser."

"Yeah loser, I will!"

They then laughed at each other as Jisoo picked up the ball and passed it to him.

"You go first. I want to give you a fighting chance at least."

"Worst mistake of your life." Jin tells her and they start off.

They played for about 10 minutes when Jisoo heard someone call out her name.

"Jisoo! Jisoo! Where are you? Are you playing basketball again?"

Both of them stopped in their tracks and they looked at each other.

"Uh-oh, looks like grandma is looking for you."

Jisoo exhaled heavily and turned her head towards the source of the sound.

"Well, I guess we can play again next time."

Jin looked at her, concerned.

"You want me to go there with you?"

Jisoo shook her head.

"Nah, I'll be fine. I don't want you to get in trouble."

Jin shrugged. "I don't really mind trouble."

"No Jin, really, it's fine. Besides you still need to rest, you just got home after all."

He hesitated for a bit, then decided to let it go.

"You message me if you need anything, alright?"

"Yeah, I will, don't worry."

"Alright then, you gotta go, you don't want the wrath of heaven to fall upon you. We can postpone me kicking your ass for now."

"Yeah, as if you can! I'll see you soon!" Jisoo says as she jogs towards her house.

"You bet!" Jin calls after her.

As soon as she neared her house, she lessens her pace and sees her grandma looking for her outside of their door.

"Jisoo! Where are you?" she calls out again.

"I'm here." she says and lets herself be seen.

Her grandma turns towards her direction and frowns.

"You've been playing that game again! When will you buckle up? Do you think you'll earn any money just wasting your life away with that pointless hobby?"

 _Here we go again._ Jisoo thought to herself.

"You called for me grandma, did you need something?"

"Yes, I need you to buy some groceries. For God's sake, go take a bath and change into something decent. Try to dress up like a girl next time, you aren't a boy."

She just inhaled deeply and told herself to stretch her patience. It wasn't worth getting into an argument with. She moved forward and headed inside, her grandmother following behind her.

"I swear, I really don't understand kids these days, especially those like you who insist that being gay is normal. That isn't normal, being one is abnormal. Remember Sodom and Gomorrah? God sees your kind as an abomination. Do you like that, being an abomination in God's eyes?" says her grandma, continuing her rant from earlier.

No matter how many times Jisoo heard it, that statement still stung. There were times she would fight back, but today, she was just too tired to say anything. Instead, she kept her mouth shut and walked towards the stairs.

"It is such a shame too, you are beautiful and should find a rich husband to marry. You should be thankful that I took you in when you were a baby, instead of living with your mom and your useless father. She chose him rather than come back here with me so she can take care of you. I hope you don't follow her footsteps when you finally come out of that weird phase of yours."

Jisoo climbed up the stairs in a hurry, she didn't want to hear what other things her grandma would continue saying to her.

It was an almost a daily occurrence. There were days that her grandma was nice to her, and she could talk to her without any hesitations, but days like these were always hard.

There was no TLC in this household.

Her aunt, who stayed with them, was usually the one who defended her from her grandmother's ire. But she was always out working and didn't come home until in the wee hours of the morning.

So Jisoo had to learn to deflect the verbal abuse she received from her. She also knew her aunt wasn't spared from it either.

Although her grandma was like that, she still loved her. She was the one who took care of her when she was still little, although she did hold a lot of resentment for her. It was just a weird and toxic relationship that they both shared.

Her grandma was very conservative as far as anyone was concerned, and her ways were very outdated and impractical, but that's what she learned growing up.

Even though her grandma took her in, she still met with her parents and her other siblings. She was the only one who was away from them. Although she wasn't happy with her parents, she had a really good relationship with her siblings.  
  


Her dad had tried to make up for his absence by giving Jisoo what she wanted and needed. He was the one who bought her basketball stuff, including her school jersey. Funny enough because her dad used to coach a team and was also a big fan of the game, but they never really spoke about it. Their relationship was mostly transactional.

Her mom on the other hand would just regard her presence, and that was it. If she had to speak with her, it was to scold her for her grades. That was always something to look forward to.

Yeah, her family life was pretty fucked up. But thanks to Jin, her siblings and her aunt, she grew up into a normal human being, and not some psycho serial killer.

Although, she turned out liking girls instead of boys, much to her grandma and mom's dismay.

In a way, it was some form of rebellion against them, being different and not being shaped into the perfect daughter that they always wanted. It was freeing for her, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Kim Jisoo was never one to follow rules after all.

************************************  
  
Chaeyoung inhaled the crisp city air as she walked the way towards her home.

She was still getting used to the place, Seoul wasn't her home city after all, although her parents were full-blooded Koreans.

She was born in New Zealand and had been raised in Melbourne, Australia. Yet, her parents had always made sure that she never missed out on her roots and taught her Korean culture and how to speak the language fluently.

But due to some changes at work, her parents, who were both lawyers, had to move back to their home country, and with them along came Chaeng and her older sister, Alice.

She finally arrived at her destination and went up the building to their apartment condominium. As soon as she entered the door lock combination, her sister Alice greeted her with a loud hello and munched on a chocolate bar she had been eating.

"Hey unnie, is mom and dad home yet?"

"Nope. They'll be home later, I'm sure. How was your day?"

"It was good. I was kinda shy at first, but the people there were quite friendly, so I was able to practice with them comfortably enough."

"Well, that's great news! Someone as talented as you should have tons of friends!"

"Unnie..."

"What? I am just proud of my little sister." she says as she threw the wrapper of the chocolate bar away.

"I am not that talented."

"Well, newsflash: you are. You should accept and internalize that kiddo." Alice tells her as she moves towards the living room, Chaeng following behind her.

"I just prefer to not say anything. Is there any food?"

"Yeah, I cooked you some fried chicken, it should be in the kitchen."

Chaeyoung smiled widely.

"Thank God, I was famished!"

Alice chuckled.

"You always are so I figured, why not cook you some food?"

"Thanks unnie, you're the best!"

"Of course I am, I am the best unnie in the world!"

Chaeyoung laughed, "Okay, if you say so Ally."

"Where did the unnie go?" Alice teased.

Chaeng sighed, "I'm still getting used to it. Oh by the way, are all your requirements ready for your transfer on Monday?"

"Yeah they are. How about you, are you ready to see how Korea's school system works?"

"Everything has been set beforehand by mom and dad, so I guess I'm good."

"Excited?"

"Nervous actually. The culture here is quite different from Australia."

"True. But you'll fit in fine like a champ. You've always been a social butterfly, so I am not too worried about my little sis."

"Gosh, I wish I had your confidence. I hope I could meet someone like that person I talked to on the elevator. She didn't look Korean, but she was really nice and friendly." Chaeyoung says, smiling at the memory.

"Ooh, so is this one of your new friends?" Alice asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"I wish, she was in a dance class though on a different floor. Maybe we might meet again since she goes to the same center as me."

Her sister shrugged. "Who knows? Were you able to ask more details about her?"

"Unfortunately no. We were in the elevator so there really wasn't much time to get to know each other."

"Well, who knows, if you're lucky, she might go to the same school as you."

"Probable, but not likely."

"Now now, don't bring all this negativity on me. Who knows right?"

Chaeng just sighed again.

"Yeah, who knows. Maybe she might actually go to YG High after all.

Alice grinned at her.

"Now that's the spirit! Let's go eat that fried chicken before it turns cold."

Chaeyoung grinned back.

"Best idea you've had all day!"


	3. Chapter 3

Jennie woke up to the shrill ringing of the alarm on her phone. She groaned as she tried to find the source of the noise with her eyes still closed. Once successful, she immediately turned it off and covered her face with her pillow.

She was still sleepy, Monday mornings were not her favorite. But since she had no choice in the matter, she eventually got up and started getting ready for school.

As she finished all of her morning rituals and started putting on her uniform, she tried to recall if there was anything she had forgotten to do during the weekend. So far, everything had been accounted for. No schoolwork was left undone.

She smiled at herself, satisfied.

It was true her family was well-off, but they always instilled in Jennie the importance and value of hard work and education. Without it, they would not be where they were now, they always reminded her of that.

Her parents were not overly strict, but they were still quite stern when it came to her grades, especially her mom.

She was also very particular about the people she hung out with. Her dad usually just played along to avoid dissent within the household.

As they were active members of their church, her mom wanted Jennie to be friends with people who provided a good influence on her and was a part of their church community. With this, her mom felt confident that through shared beliefs and values, her daughter would not be "polluted" by the new fads that had sprouted out every now and then.

Her best friend Nayeon, as well as her other friends, were all from the same church. She didn't question her parents about it as she got along with them just fine.

She was also still friends with some people who were not in the same church, she just didn't let their beliefs affect her.

That's just how things in her world works.

As she finished setting up her hair and got dressed in her uniform, she immediately got her school bag and quickly headed downstairs for breakfast.

Her parents were, not surprisingly, already seated at the table waiting to have breakfast with her.

Her dad was in his favorite black Armani suit, with his hair slicked back. A lot of people always told her that she looked a lot like him, especially with his intense cat eyes.

Her mom on the other hand, wasn't too far behind with her two-piece navy blue power powersuit. Her blonde hair was pinned up into a bun, which made her look even more intimidating than she already was.

She plopped down on her seat as her mom made eye contact with her.

"Good morning, Jennie. I assume you already did the required work you had during the weekend?" her mom says, as she passes her some toast.

"Yes mom, I made sure to finish all of it." she replied as she accepted the food her mom offered to her.

"I wasn't too worried, I know how responsible our daughter is Chaerin." her dad says, as he winks at Jennie, who smiled back at him.

"I am aware, but of course I just wanted to check. Making sure things are running smoothly also helps her succeed in the future."

"I'm sure everything is fine. You worry too much sometimes, especially over Jennie." he says with a chuckle.

Chaerin sighed, "Being passive wouldn't help, Jiyong. Sometimes, I think you spoil her too much."

"Well, so far our daughter hasn't given me any reason to unspoil her, so it shall continue." he says with a smirk and directs his wink at his wife while slowly sipping his coffee. Chaerin just playfully rolled her eyes at him, then gave him a small smile.

"Well, I guess she has been a good daughter to us. I hope you know that I am happy of how you are doing Jennie."

Jennie felt like her heart was about to burst with happiness, her mom wasn't the type to dish out compliments randomly, "Thanks mom, I promise to continue to do my best."

"I'm sure you will. Oh, by the way, I will be sending you some leaflets later about the schools I was talking to you about. If you keep up your grades, you will be a shoo-in for either Yonsei or Harvard, so just choose between the two. We can also talk about which pre-law course you can take so you'll have a good foundation once you enter into law school." Chaerin tells her, excitement apparent in her voice. Her mom had always wanted her to become a lawyer like them, and even had the right connections so Jennie wouldn't have a hard time entering in the University of her choice.

Her dad kept silent, he wasn't really in agreement to having Jennie go into law school unless she really wanted to, but since Jennie wanted to please her mom, she decided to go for it.

Besides, she knew her mom wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Alright, mom." she says as she looks at her happy face. Although she also wanted to be as excited as her, she realized her heart wasn't as into it as she wanted it to be.

************************************

Jennie exhaled as she finally got all the things she needed in her locker and closed it carefully. She was about to head towards the room where her first class was located when suddenly, she noticed a tall, good-looking guy leaning next to her locker, sporting a huge grin at her.

"Hey Jen." he greeted her casually.

"Hey Kai." she responded as she fixed the hair behind her ears, smiling shyly at him.

She admitted she was pretty nervous around him. Who wouldn't be? Kai, or also known as Kim Jongin, was one of the more popular kids at school. He was the men's basketball team star player, got really good grades, was an amazing dancer and he also went to the same church as she did. 

Both guys and girls were after him, he was one, if not the most sought after guy in their campus, and her friends had been trying to set her up with him. 

According to them, it seems that he was very interested in her.

Jennie didn't believe them. Yes, she was kind of well-known around school, but not enough in her opinion to have someone like Kai take notice of her presence. 

But so far, he had been trying to hang out with them a lot, and they had been talking more frequently on the phone. He hadn't formally asked her out yet, so she hoped this was finally it.

She braced herself as he came closer towards her, the fact that he was this near made her heart beat rapidly. She noticed that his dark brown hair fell into his eyes, which for some reason, made him look sexier, and he was staring softly at her.

He then cleared his throat, "I was looking everywhere for you, I'm glad I was able to catch you before class started." he told her while continuing to hold her stare, which made her even more nervous.

"Y-you were? I-I mean, okay, that's...uhm...I'm sorry, why were you looking for me?" she asked, while at the same time, she wanted to pound her head on the wall. What the heck was she stuttering about? She shouldn't be this anxious over a guy.

He licked his lips and took a deep breath as he put his hands in his pockets, "Well, you see, I was wondering if you were fr-"

A hand suddenly came in between them and landed loudly on one of of the lockers next to Jennie. Both of them were taken by surprise.

"Woops, timeout! Let's give a pause with this morning flirtation for a minute while I get access to my things yeah?" 

Jennie's lips formed into a thin line and she swore she could feel the blood boil in her veins. She would know that voice from a mile away, and she was the only person in existence capable of ruining her day in just mere seconds.

She turned her head slightly and was greeted by the smirking face of Kim Jisoo. Just her luck because the demon's locker happened to be next to hers. Thankfully, they rarely met since Jisoo liked to come to school with a few minutes to spare before the bell rang. But today of all days, the spawn of Satan decided to come early, and even Kai was taken aback at her sudden arrival.

"What are you doing here?" Jennie asked her adamantly. 

"Uh...going to school? I thought they said you were smart?" Jisoo says as she opens her locker and starts rummaging through her things.

"I wouldn't have guessed it because it seems nobody has been able to teach you some manners! Didn't you see we were talking?" Jennie tells her, the irritation clear in her voice.

Jisoo shrugged, "I don't care, Kim. My stuff was in here and I can't be fucked to wait for you and your boyfriend to decide if you wanted to make out or not." she responds while rolling her eyes, "Anyway, I won't take long and you can get back to whatever business you two were doing. You don't mind, right Kai?" she says, as she looked at him directly, challenging him to say something.

He just gave her an annoyed stare.

"See? He doesn't mind." Jisoo says finally when Kai didn't answer. She then slammed her locker door shut and grinned at Jennie.

"You really have a problem with your brain, you know? You should have that examined." Jennie says through gritted teeth.

"That's the nicest thing you have said to me in awhile." Jisoo answered sarcastically as she swung her backpack behind her shoulder. 

"Can't you just leave her alone, Jisoo?" Kai finally speaks up. Jisoo turned and raised an eyebrow at him.

"So he speaks! It's nice that your boyfriend is finally defending your honor, Jennie." she says as she stares back at him, "What are you going to do about it?"

"Don't bother with her, she clearly has issues." Jennie butts in as she takes Kai's arm and pulls him away from Jisoo. 

Jisoo snorted, "That's rich coming from you of all people."

Jennie decided to ignore her and walk away from the scene with Kai in tow. When they were finally out of earshot, Jennie sighed and let go of him.

"I'm sorry about that." she tells him.

"You shouldn't be, she was the one who was being an asshole." he tells her and she could see how annoyed he was at the situation.

"We can't change people who have an attitude problem, so it's best not to entertain them." Jennie huffed, just thinking about that girl's face made her want to throw something at it.

"Why do you guys hate each other so much? I just noticed that every time you meet, you guys almost always fight." Kai asked, clearly wanting to understand what was going on between them.

"It's a long story, and one which I would rather not talk about if you don't mind." she tells him as she looks down. She didn't want to revisit those memories again.

"Okay, I just wanted you to be aware that it makes people think sometimes that you used to be in a secret relationship or something like that." Kai tells her frankly.

Jennie's eyes went wide, anger brimming within her, "Are you crazy? I would never be in a homosexual relationship, much less with that annoying spawn of the devil! You know that Kai and you know how I feel about them. Why we fight is nobody's business but ours, but it doesn't automatically mean she was my ex." she says, clearly annoyed.

Kai put up his hands in defense, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad. I was just thinking out loud, and I know how you feel about that. I mean, I don't hate them or anything, but I don't agree with their lifestyle either." 

Jennie inhaled in a deep breath, she didn't want to think about what other people perceived of them. To her surprise, she felt Kai take her hand and smile at her as she gazed at him.

"Hey, who cares what other people think? You know yourself and your beliefs, I think that's what's important." he tells her as he looks into her eyes. She gave him a small smile, she knew he was right and she shouldn't let things like this bother her.

"You're right, I shouldn't. People can make a lot of assumptions based on things they have no idea about."

"Exactly, so don't think too much about it."

Jennie nodded, "I'll do my best."

Kai grinned at her, "Well, let me help out with that. I was going to ask you anyway if you were free this Friday night? We could do some stuff to take your mind off of these kinds of things."

Her heart raced, Kai was finally asking her out!

"I-uhm...well..." she was a stuttering mess and she hated herself for it.

"I mean, I understand if you don't want to-" Kai says sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, looking disappointed.

"NO! I mean...yes! Yes, I would love to go out with you this Friday night." she finally tells him.

His face lit up, "Oh! Alright, awesome! We can hash out the details later if you don't mind?"

"Yeah, definitely." she tells him, the incident with Jisoo earlier was quickly forgotten.

"Cool. Let me walk you to class?"

She smiled widely at him, "It would be my pleasure."

************************************

Lisa was munching on some chips near the school's entrance when she saw Jisoo walking quickly towards her and then sitting beside her with a huff.

"Well, someone's early and cranky." she tells her as she pops another chip in her mouth, "Want some?"

"Nope." she tells her as she leans back and observes her surroundings.

Lisa shrugged, "More for me then."

"I can't believe we don't have practice later." Jisoo complains with a sigh.

"Oh wow, that's what you're cranky about?" Lisa says, amused at her best friend.

"Who wouldn't be?" she says with a slight smile on her face.

"Uh...me?" Lisa says as she points at herself, "Coach Minzy sometimes works us to death."

"It's for the good of the team though."

"Yeah, I know that. But a day of rest wouldn't kill us." Lisa tells her, "Anyway, since we don't have practice later, we can go and watch a movie or something. You can invite that Bona girl if you want."

"I guess, it's better than staying at home."

"Yeah, I know how you don't like to be stuck in the house with your grandma. We could also hang out at my house, my parents love you anyway. I sometimes think they want to adopt you so they can officially call you their daughter." Lisa says as she playfully poked Jisoo's shoulder.

"You're just jealous because I'll be their favorite if ever they do." Jisoo says, grinning, the bad mood she was feeling earlier seems to be slowly clearing up.

"Not happening, I'll always be the favorite by a mile." Lisa tells her confidently.

"I dunno, your parents seem pretty fond of me." Jisoo says as she rubs her hand on her chin.

Lisa was about to respond again when suddenly, she saw a familiar face walking towards the entrance of the school.

"HOLY SHIT!" she exclaimed, almost falling over as she did. Jisoo furrowed her eyebrows at her.

"Whoa, you okay?"

Lisa held on to Jisoo's shoulders and squeezed it tightly.

"I'm more than okay! Remember the girl that I told you about, the one I met in the elevator?"

"Yeah? The one who's number you didn't ask for?"

"That doesn't matter now because she's walking towards our building's main entrance as we speak!" Lisa told her excitedly.

Jisoo turned and tried to see who she was talking about, "Oh really?! Where?"

Lisa pointed towards a tall, blonde girl casually walking towards her destination, "That's her."

Jisoo was silent for a moment as she observed the girl. After a few seconds, she turns her attention back towards Lisa.

"Well? What are you still doing here?" 

"Huh?"

Jisoo facepalmed, "Lisa, go greet her! She's new here so this is your chance to show her around and stuff." Jisoo tells her like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"B-but-"

"Oh God, no buts, stop thinking and head on over there!"

Lisa took in a deep breath and looked at Jisoo, "Alright, let's go!" Lisa says as she grabs on to her hand, but to her surprise, her best friend didn't budge.

"I have other things to do, besides it's better if you talk to her first...alone." Jisoo reasons with her. 

She knew she shouldn't be nervous around girls she just met, she was used to flirting with them, but for reasons she couldn't explain, she felt different with this one.

"Okay...I guess you're right."

"So what are you waiting for? Go before someone gets to her first!" Jisoo says as she pushes the younger girl away from her. Lisa took the hint and went on ahead. 

As Lisa came closer, her palms became sweaty. She looked back at Jisoo for support who was giving her two thumbs up. With that, she felt at ease because she knew her best friend would always be behind her back no matter what.

Lisa decided to kind of "accidentally" bump into her. She knew it was such a cliché move, but it always seemed to work anyway.

So as soon as the girl was close enough, she walked over to her direction and then bumped into her. She made sure it was light enough so they wouldn't fall over.

"Ow! Hey, watch where you're going!" the girl, named Chaeyoung, as Lisa recalled, exclaimed. 

"Oh, I am so sorry! I wasn't able to see you because I was in a hurry." Lisa apologized, waiting for her reaction.

Their eyes met briefly, and Lisa could see how quickly her expression changed from that of annoyance to recognition.

"Oh my God, Lisa? The one in the Performing Arts Center?" Chaeyoung exclaimed while she covered her mouth and pointed a finger at her. 

Lisa then looked at her slowly, then snapped her fingers, "Oh you! Yeah! Chaeyoung right?"

"Yes that's right! Oh wow, what are the odds? I mean, who would have thought that you went to the same school as me, especially knowing how big Seoul is!"

"I feel the same! I wasn't expecting this, but here we are." Lisa tells her, grinning sheepishly. So far so good.

"Exactly! But you know what? I'm glad you're here and I ran into you, this means that I at least have my first friend in my new high school."

She must have been worried, but Lisa was going to make sure that wasn't the case, at least for her.

"Don't worry, I'll be the one to show you around if need be, especially around school, and what rules should be followed to the letter." Lisa says as she looks at some of the papers the other girl was holding.

Chaeyoung noticed this, "Don't bother with them, that's just part of the requirements." she assured her, "Besides, you promised to show me around right?"

"Yeah?"

Chaeyoung hooked her arm into Lisa's and grinned at her, "Lets start by guiding me towards the area where I can formally enroll myself in this campus.


	4. Chapter 4

It was a cold Thursday morning in Seoul, and winter was nearing. For someone like Jisoo, she didn't mind too much since it was her favorite season, despite the fact that she wouldn't be able to play ball on Jin's backyard. 

Today, she had woken up earlier than expected and couldn't get back to sleep no matter how hard she tried. Taking a look at her clock, she saw that it was still around six am and inwardly groaned. Her first class was at nine.

Deciding to make the most out of it, she quickly got up and changed into her workout clothes, tying her hair into a messy ponytail. She supposed she could shoot some hoops for an hour to pass the time, despite the growing cold outside. Besides, her grandma wasn't awake this early in the morning.

She eagerly picked up her ball, which was the brown, Spalding NBA Street Outdoor Basketball model, which Jin had given to her during her sixteenth birthday. It was the exact same one she had been saving up to buy, but her cousin had beat her to it.

Of course, she didn't complain when she received it from him.

She ran outside towards Jin's house, and as soon as she arrived on the court, she noticed that the ground felt slick because of all the moisture in the air. She didn't too much about it, she had been able to play in these conditions before. Besides, she was only here to shoot around, not have a quick game.

"Hey Jis, good morning. You're pretty early today." Jin smiled, sipping a cup of coffee. She smiled back at him. His hair was a bit unruly, it seems he just got out of bed to get ready for the day.

"Yeah, I couldn't get back to sleep when I woke up earlier. So I decided, why not just get a good warm up before I get to school?"

Jin chuckled, "Why am I not surprised? Anyway, I gotta go get ready. Be careful, the ground's kinda slippery this morning." he warned as he turned to get back inside.

"Don't worry, I'll just be shooting around." she tells him as he put up his hand in acknowledgement. 

As soon as he was gone, she began hitting shots from the free throw line, slowly moving her way around as she got further and further from the ring. Every time she missed, she would go back to her original position, and start over. 

When she made the final shot from the three-point baseline, she stopped and bent down, taking deep breaths to regain her stamina. Grinning, she felt fully satisfied with this morning's warm-up. Her form was great, and she knew she would play fairly well for tomorrow's game.

To celebrate, she decided once again to attempt a dunk on Jin's ring. She knew she was short, but, she always dreamed that someday, somehow, she would finally make that shot. She wasn't about to give up anytime soon.

She prepared herself and focused on the ring, she was going to do this. She always wanted to experience how it was like to fly, to stay and rule in the air just like Michael Jordan. What a feeling that would be!

As soon as she felt she was ready, she bit her lip, concentrated hard, then, shot forward like a bullet towards the ring!  
  
She was thinking that the faster she would be, the more momentum she would have for her jump, so she decided not to dribble the ball towards her destination.

When she got nearer, she immediately leapt up, moving the ball towards her right hand as she got it into a perfect position for a one-handed dunk. She felt like her jump was higher than her previous ones, and she felt a spark of hope. What if this was finally the day she made it?

Unfortunately to her dismay, as her hand neared the ring, the only thing she was able to do was to graze the net. No dunk was going to happen today. 

But then she realized that she was falling down, fast. Faster than what she was used to because of the height of her jump. But she wasn't too concerned. 

Well, not until she made her landing.

Because of how slippery the surface was, as soon as she hit the ground, she landed on her right foot awkwardly and immediately tumbled down to the floor, grimacing in pain.

"Shit, shit!" she grits her teeth as she tries to sit herself down into a position where she could check her foot. Her heart was beating fast, she couldn't be injured. She CAN'T be injured, they had a game tomorrow!

She quickly removed her sock and her shoe, inspecting her foot and massaging it a bit. So far, it looked like it wasn't swollen, and although there was some pain, it was still tolerable.

She sighed, she had been worried. It was stupid to do the dunk, knowing the floor was unsafe and Jin even warned her about it, yet she decided to push herself. "Stupid." she muttered as she tried to stand up. 

As she tested walking on it, she was relieved to know that it just felt sore, and that it wasn't anything serious. If it had been, she would never forgive herself.

Jisoo slowly made her way back towards her house, thinking that she should just use an ace bandage on her ankle to prevent further swelling and give it some support. Fortunately, she always kept a couple of them with her in case if things like this happened.

It was going to be a annoying to walk around, but it was still better than discovering that she had broken her foot.

*****************************

Class was about to start and Jisoo had arrived on time.

She sat down while she quietly laughed at Byul's picture, which Seulgi sent over to their GC. Her hair was all over the place, but she was still grinning happily while cake was being smeared all over her face. Trust Kang to keep memories like this with her.

"I don't recall being invited to this." someone commented over her shoulder, making her look up to see who it was. She was met with the amused expression of her friend, Soojoo, who was checking out the photo on her phone. 

Jisoo laughed, she didn't miss her friend's teasing tone, "Byul's lucky you weren't, or there would definitely be more than photographic evidence."

Soojoo grinned mischievously as she sat down beside Jisoo, "You got me there."

She had to admit, the girl was very pretty. She had jet black straight hair that fell flawlessly down to her waist, and chestnut eyes that conveyed her intelligence and kindness. Her smile made people look twice, and she had this aura which made people easily drawn to her.

Jisoo's friends always teased her about it, and asked non-stop why she wouldn't date her. 

It wasn't because she didn't find her attractive, she did. But she always admired how much of a good friend Soojoo was, that she didn't want to waste that just because she couldn't keep it in her pants. So she kept a respectful distance in that department, knowing that they were perfectly happy about this friendship. 

Another thing about Soojoo was that her family owned Hong's Diner. Since they were so close, it wasn't a surprise that she was able to get a few discounts and free food at times whenever the girl was around. 

Soojoo was also always on the lookout for her. It wasn't surprising that she checked up on Jisoo every now and then, just in case she had forgotten something. Especially when it came to her schoolwork, which she sometimes neglected, "Soo, I just wanted to be sure, were you able to study for today's Math quiz?"

Jisoo abruptly stopped and looked at her blankly, "What?"

"Remember, Miss Lee had announced Monday that we would have a quiz today?" she tries to jog her friend's memory, but she only witnessed Jisoo's face grow whiter by the second as she realized she had completely forgotten about it.

"Oh shit, I wasn't able to study!" she panicked, Math wasn't her strongest subject. If she failed, she knew she wouldn't be able to play on the team! What was she going to do?

Soojoo sighed, "Soo, you know how important this is, yet you always let it slip your mind."

"I know, I didn't mean to do it! It just escaped my thoughts!" she defended while quickly scanning through her notes, "Oh man, I am so dead."

"Maybe if you didn't have your head so far up your ass, you'd find that you could think and remember clearly." someone commented nearby.

"As always, you only contribute something useless to a conversation." Jisoo deadpanned as she continued to scan her notes. She didn't need to look up to see who it was.

"Jennie, let her be." Soojoo says, annoyed that she had to butt in with Jisoo's business.

Jennie smirked and leaned on her hand, "I'm sorry, I just find it hilarious that she forgot to study on the subject she is terrible at. Oh well, you can't always have everything."

Jisoo just snorted at what she said, "It looks like you care, Kim. I didn't know you were this concerned about my studies." she looks up and stares at her with her signature smirk, "Maybe if I kiss you, it will make it all better."

Jennie gave her a disgusted look and one of the girls beside her raised an eyebrow towards Jisoo, "Oh my God, can you keep your homosexual desires to yourself?"

Both Soojoo and Jisoo quickly turned their attention to the girl beside Jennie, who was giving them a look that seemed to convey that she had smelled something bad. 

She was, in fact, one of the prettiest girls in their school. Unfortunately, in Jisoo's opinion, she needed a huge upgrade with her personality.

"Tzuyu, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't know that most homophobes end up being gay themselves. It's called science, bitch." Jisoo told her off, her notes long forgotten. 

Tzuyu rolled her eyes, "I'm sorry but I am more concerned about eternal damnation."

"Perfect description of what the person who ends up with you will experience." Soojoo butted in, Jisoo rewarding her with a huge grin.

"Fucking heathens." she muttered.

"Just ignore them." Jennie told her as she patted her friend's arm.

"Exactly what I was doing earlier. Unfortunately some people can't seem to mind their own business." 

"As if you aren't any different yourself. I seem to recall you lack manners."

"Still sore about that failed make-out session with your boyfriend?"

Jennie gave her a sarcastic smile, "The only thing that's failing is your Math quiz."

"At least I can make my own decisions instead of depending it on other people."

Jisoo knew she hit a nerve. Jennie's eyes blazed and was about to get up when their teacher, Miss Lee, walked in and saw how angry Jennie's stare was at Jisoo.

"Miss Kim, not this again. You wouldn't want me to send the two of you to detention now, would you?"

Jennie looked down and Jisoo turned away, and went back to checking her notes.

"I'm sorry, Miss Lee."

Their teacher just shook her head in exasperation, "Sit down, we'll begin the quiz in a few minutes."

Jennie quickly followed her instruction. Jisoo on the other hand, tried her best to review her notes, hoping against hope that something will stick in her brain long enough for her to pass it.

She had a feeling that she was going to fail this, all because she had been playing more World of Warcraft with her friends, which made her forget about the quiz.

It seems she has been making one stupid decision after another.

*****************************

Lisa was bouncing happily towards their school's basketball gym. They had practice today since they had a game tomorrow, and Coach Minzy wanted to make sure the team was in top shape.

She couldn't help herself, she didn't know why, but spending some time with her new friend, Rosé, made her feel that nothing could ruin her day. She discovered that they were in the same year, and that the girl had moved from Australia to Korea because of her parents.

Although Rosé's parents were full-blooded Koreans, the girl was born and raised in a foreign country, so she wasn't quite used to dealing with how the culture worked here. Being a foreigner herself, Lisa was more than willing to help her deal with this, which made Rosé really happy. They exchanged numbers, and she couldn't wait to hang out with her more often.

As she arrived at the gym, most of the members were already there, doing some stretches or warming up before their coach began their practice. As usual, Jisoo was already on the court, shooting a few threes as she waited for the rest of the team.

She jogged over to her as she smoothly hit another shot.

"Top form as usual." Lisa said as Jisoo turned to face her.

Her best friend furrowed her eyebrows at her, "Thanks, but why are you grinning like an idiot?"

"I'm not!"

"It's plastered all over your face."

"You're just seeing things."

"Yes, and I am not gay." Jisoo rolled her eyes.

"Who's not gay?" Seulgi butt in as she took the ball away from Jisoo's hands and went for a layup.

"No one is, Seul. Jisoo is just being weird." Lisa says, as she catches the ball Seulgi passes to her.

"Just look at her face." Jisoo tells the other girl, who then observes Lisa.

"Well now, why are you grinning like an idiot?"

"That's what I told her" she smirks. Seulgi was now looking at Lisa curiously. 

"You guys are making something out of nothing." she knew she was still smiling, but she didn't mind that her friends were teasing her about it. 

Jisoo snaps her fingers, "I know, it's that new girl isn't it?"

"What is this about a new girl and why haven't you introduced me to her?" Seulgi asks Lisa, who just shook her head in amusement.

"It's nothing."

"It's not nothing if you're grinning like that, right Seul?"

"Right. You don't smile like that because of a girl. She must be hot." 

Lisa shrugged and tried to make a shot, which missed by a hair, "I'm just having a good day, that's all."

"A good day because of a certain someone I bet." Seulgi teased.

Jisoo went after the ball and that's when Lisa noticed it.

"Unnie, why are you limping?" she frowned. 

Jisoo had slowed down her steps when she called her out as she retrieved the ball, then turned around to face them, "It's just a little sore, nothing major to worry about."

"It's something to worry about because I know you." Lisa says as she goes near her friend, with Seulgi following close behind.

"We all know her, she'd play even if she was hopping on one foot." the monolid girl added, which Lisa agreed to silently. Jisoo was too obsessed about playing, she would do anything, even probably sell her soul to the devil, just so she could continue playing. 

"Come on guys, I swear, it's really nothing. Here, you can check it out if you want to be sure." she offered, making Lisa breathe out a little. If she was really injured, she would definitely not want them to see it. As she observed Jisoo's foot, she saw that she had wrapped it with an ace bandage, most likely so she could have better support for it.

"What happened, why are you limping then?" asked Lisa.

"I was playing around in Jin's backyard and I kinda landed my foot awkwardly on the ground. The court was a bit slippery, so that's why I got into a minor accident. But like I said, don't worry, I'm fine. I made sure to take care of it right away." Jisoo explained.

Lisa looked at her some more and decided that it wasn't something to worry too much about. Plus, she seemed okay.

"Alright, I believe you. Just take it easy today, we still have a game tomorrow." Lisa told her.

"Wow, I'm getting confused which one of you is the older person." Seulgi grinned, as Jisoo gave her a light punch on her shoulder.

"Not with you around, Kang. We always wonder if you're actually older than us." Jisoo says, making Lisa laugh because it was true. Seulgi was just that type of person who was so full of energy.

"Who knows? I might actually be the real maknae, but because I'm too smart, I skipped a few years." she says while giving them a knowing look. Jisoo and Lisa looked at each other, amused.

"I think I heard Coach Minzy calling. We better go, Lisa."

"I didn't hear anything."

"I did too, let's go Jisoo." she says as her best friend slings an arm around her while snickering.

"I hate you guys." Seulgi tells them as it finally dawns on her what they are doing.

"Did you hear anything, Jisooya?"

"Nope."

"Oh well, who cares. I am going to see what Byul and Jeongyeon are up to." Seulgi said as she jogs over towards her other friends while sticking her tongue out at them, which made both girls laugh.

"I really can't with Seulgi, sometimes she acts like a three-year old." comments Lisa, as she watches their friend doing her antics with their other teammates.

"Yeah, but she's pretty cool. Do you know she has a huge crush on my sister?"

"I remember, you did tell me about it one time."

"She was gawking at her the whole time when she came to visit me here." 

Lisa couldn't help but laugh some more. She had met Jisoo's older sister a few times, and although she was nice and very beautiful, she did have a really intimidating resting bitch face.

"I can just imagine how Irene must've looked when she saw Seulgi acting like that."

"Oh man, it was really awkward and funny at the same time. Irene asked me if she was okay, and I told her that Seulgi was just being herself. She was quite amused to be honest."

"I should be there next time they meet."

"You should, it would be fun!"

Suddenly, the heard the sharp sound of a whistle, which meant that Coach Minzy was calling the team to start their practice session.

"Oh well, Coach is calling for us. I am going to kick your butt in later's scrimmage." Lisa tells her as she jogs towards their destination.

"You can try."

Lisa grinned back at her, "Race yah!"

Both girls began sprinting towards their coach, laughing all the way there.


	5. Chapter 5

Lisa drummed her fingers on the table as she waited for Rosé. The two of them have been hanging out lately, so it wasn't long till she mentioned that she was a member of the girls basketball team. It had peaked Rosé's interest and she had insisted that she wanted to see her in action. It was really cute and she couldn't say no to that.

It so happened that when she had told her friend about it, she had a match later in the day with Cube High. She was amused at how excited Rosé had been, who had asked if she was fine about watching their warm up before they headed inside their locker room. Lisa supposed there was no harm in that, although she would definitely be on the receiving end of a lot of teasing from her teammates.

Surprisingly, she found herself thinking that she didn't mind. 

But Rosé was taking her time, and she definitely didn't want to receive Coach Minzy's ire for being late, especially because of somebody else. She hoped her friend would hurry up or else she would be doing extra suicide runs in their next practice.

Finally, she saw her running towards her with a huge grin on her face, which made Lisa grin back at her despite the impatience she had been feeling awhile earlier.

"Oh my God, I am so sorry if I made you wait. Joy and Yeri were telling me about auditioning for the Glee Club, and I got so interested, I almost forgot that you were waiting for me! Am I too late?" Rosé says when she got to her table with a hint of guilt on her face. She couldn't possibly be angry at that face now, could she?

"No, actually you're just in time. We still have a few minutes to spare before Coach does a number on me. You ready?" 

"Yes! I don't know why but I am really excited. I have no idea about the rules and stuff about basketball to be honest." Rosé tells her honestly as Lisa got up. 

She chuckled, "Yeah, I can see that. I don't know if you're aware, but your cheeks puff up when you get all excited. You look like a chipmunk." Lisa tells her as she proceeds to poke her friend's cheeks.

Rosé pouts, "I am not a chipmunk, I do not look like a chipmunk." she responds while also poking her other cheek at the same time, which makes Lisa laugh.

"Cute. Come on, let's go, or Coach is going to kill me."

They both turned and walked towards the school gym, Rosé still poking her other cheek. 

"I still think I don't look like a chipmunk." she mutters to herself, Lisa side-eyeing her in amusement.

"Don't think too much about it, like I said, I find it cute." 

Rosé pauses her cheek poking and turns to look at her with narrowed eyes, "Are you just saying that to make me feel better?"

"No, I'm saying that because it's true." 

"Hmm." Rosé said, her expression was deep in thought now. Lisa wondered what could be inside the girl's head, but all of that vanished once she saw the gym up ahead.

"We're almost there. Let's hurry, so I can have time to change and stuff."

"Oh, okay, come on!" Rosé responded by holding Lisa's hand and walking briskly towards their destination. Lisa swore she could feel her face flush, but decided to ignore it. 

By the time they got there, Lisa could hear the sound of balls being bounced around, sneakers squeaking on the hardwood floors and laughter coming from her teammates. She opened the door and she saw them busy shooting or passing the ball around. She realized Rosé was still holding her hand, so she quickly let go of it before her teammates got the wrong idea.

Both of them entered the court and some of her teammates began to notice her presence and waved at her. They were also giving curious glances towards her companion.

"Manoban, catch this, quick!" Moonbyul called out as she snapped a pass to her, which Lisa easily caught.

"Hey Byul."

Moonbyul walked towards her, and then gave Rosé the once over, "Who's your cute friend?" 

"Oh, uhm, Byul, this is Rosé. Rosé, Moonbyul." she introduced, and Rosé was the first one to initiate a handshake.

"It's nice to meet you." she tells her.

"Likewise. You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend." Moonbyul says, as she looks at Lisa questioningly, who almost balks at her statement.

"No, I mean, she isn't my girlfriend. She's just a friend, and she's new here." Lisa says quickly, which made Rosé giggle.

"Alright, alright, calm down, Lisa." Moonbyul tells her, amused, and looks back again at Rosé, "Welcome to the hell that's YG. We're the only ones who make it interesting." 

"I can see that, I guess." Rosé responds, laughing a bit, but then pauses as something seems to have caught her eye, "Wait, who's that?" she points towards the court. Both girls turned around to see who she was talking about. They realized she was pointing at Jisoo, who was practicing her free throw shots. 

"Oh that, her name's Kim Jisoo. Our team's star player and Lisa's best friend." 

Rosé smiled, wait was she checking her out?

"She's...really beautiful. Plus, she seems to have this aura that feels like she knows what she's doing." 

Lisa and Moonbyul looked at each other.

"Uhm yeah, she kinda has that effect on people." Lisa tells her, shifting a bit. She was already used to it, Jisoo getting most of the attention, and it never really bothered her. Except now. 

"So does that mean you're gay?" Moonbyul asks her directly, who was always the type who got straight to the point. The girl never held back once she was curious about something. But then, Lisa also wanted to know as well.

"Yeah, pretty much. I prefer older girls though." she says, still looking at Jisoo.

Moonbyul gives Lisa a knowing look, "Are you older than her?"

"Uhm, I think we're just about the same age." Lisa responds, scratching her head, she felt a bit of disappointment.

"Yeah, I think we are. While although I have a preference for older women, I can always make exceptions." Rosé tells them, shrugging like it wasn't really a big deal, which made Moonbyul grin at Lisa.

"Well now, that's interesting, right Lisa?" she teased.

"I...guess?" 

"Lisa, Moonbyul, why aren't you changed yet? Hurry up, we are about to start!" Coach Minzy called out from the stands. Lisa and Moonbyul's eyes grew wide.

"Yes Coach!" they answered in unison. Lisa then looked at Rosé and grinned at her sheepishly.

"Sorry, I have to go. You can just find a seat on the bleachers. At least you're here early, it gets pretty packed in here."

"It's fine, anyway Joy and Yeri said they'll be watching it with me later. I guess I can save a seat for them as well."

"Alright, I hope you'll enjoy watching!" Lisa calls out at she jogs towards the locker room.

"I'll do my best!" Rosé giggled, waving a goodbye to her.

*************************

Jisoo was raring to go. Her foot was still a bit sore, but nothing she felt would hinder her game. Everyone was buzzing with energy in the locker room, and the mood was pretty high. You would almost think they had already won, but they were just excited to play.

Cube High was a pretty good team, and one of the top ones in the league. The fact that they would have a challenge ahead of them sparked up their competitive nature, and each of them was very confident that they could take them on.

"I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready!" Seulgi kept repeating as she hopped in place in front of her locker.

Jeongyeon casually took a sip from her bottle as she watched Seulgi, "And here I thought Jisoo unnie would be the most excited out of all of us." she snickers.

"I just feel that this is my day! I'm in the zone and I'm gonna rock the stadium tonight!" Seulgi responds, continuing to hop in place.

"The last time you said that, you made two field goals and that was it." Jeongyeon reminded her, laughing. Seulgi responded by throwing a towel at her face. 

"Alright kids, don't bully Seulgi, she might sulk again in the corner." Moonbyul told them as she put on her lucky socks. They were a pair of different colored ones, both black and white, and she never missed to wear them. The last time she didn't, they lost catastrophically to one of the lower tiered teams, and she swore she would never do so again. The truth was, it was because Lisa, Jisoo and Seulgi were sick, but Moonbyul insisted that wasn't the case. They just let her be.

Lisa was doing some stretches while Jisoo wrapped a new bandage around her ankle. 

"I saw you with the new girl. You guys are friends now?" Jisoo asked her.

"Yeah, she's pretty cool, you'd like her." Lisa told her, as she continued to try and reach her toes. 

"I'm sure, you're a pretty good judge of character. She's starting to watch your game, ey?" Jisoo teased, and wiggled her eyebrows at her which made Lisa smile.

"She was just interested when I told her I played the game, and she wanted to watch."

"That's a good sign then." she said, as finally finished wrapping her foot, and slowly rotating it to check if she did it correctly. 

"I dunno. She did say she was gay, but was interested in older girls." 

Jisoo snorted, "It's just a preference, doesn't mean that she might not be interested in you in the long run."

"I don't want to get my hopes up, but at least she's a good person to have as a friend."

Jisoo glanced at her best friend, "You're not hard to love, Lisa. Don't sell yourself short. Besides, you are an amazing athlete, show to her what you can do on that court."

Lisa shrugged. "We'll see."

"Jisoo, come in my office for a bit, I have something to discuss with you before the game." Coach Minzy called out to her.

"Alright, Coach! One sec, I just need to tie my shoes."

Coach Minzy nodded, and headed inside her office. After a few seconds, Jisoo stood up and was about to follow her over there.

"We're not yet finished about this, Limario." she told her best friend as she walked towards where her coach was waiting for her.

As soon as she was inside, Minzy smiled at her and she took a seat in front of her desk.

"Hey Coach, what's up?"

"Well Jisoo, I actually have some good news for you today." she tells her, "We have some guests here tonight, and they are very interested in watching you play."

 _Guests? What guests?_ Jisoo thought to herself.

"Who are they Coach and why is it a good thing for me?"

Minzy leaned back on her seat as she looked straight into Jisoo's eyes, "Well, these two gave me a call earlier and wanted to know more about you. I gave them as much detail as I could, in fact, I thought they were reporters at first who were just interested to know more about you. But, imagine my surprise when they said that they were both from Seoul University and from the under 19 South Korean women's national team."

Jisoo's eyes grew bigger and her heart pounded in anticipation.

"Wait, are you saying what I think you're saying, Coach?"

Minzy laughed good-naturedly, "Yes, I am Jisoo. They are basketball scouts and they wanted to see you play tonight. The scout from SU is interested in getting you a scholarship for their school, and they feel your addition to their team would benefit them greatly. As for the SK Women's team, I did not miss the opportunity to tell him that it has been your dream to reach that goal in the future. They are very excited to see you play tonight."

Jisoo couldn't believe it, she could barely breathe. Here it was, one of her dreams was well within her reach!

"Oh my God, I don't know what to say! I'm...oh my God, I think I am still in shock." Jisoo says, still not believing it.

Minzy laughed once again, she was very proud of her star player, "All I can say is, just let them see what you can do out there. I am confident you will be a shoo-in." she says confidently. 

Jisoo inhaled and smiled, feeling the excitement running in her veins, "I'll do my best, Coach!"

*************************

"Aargh!" Jisoo angrily huffs as she sits down on the bench. They were already in the second half, and still, she couldn't seem to find her rhythm. Her ankle was fine, her teammates were playing exceptionally well, yet she was performing so badly. She had no excuse whatsoever. 

She got her towel and wiped the sweat off of her face, she was feeling quite frustrated. Her game was so off tonight. All the missed chances and the turnovers she had were the only reason why their team was a few points behind. She put the towel on her head, watching as Lisa made a quick layup on her way to the basket. They were now only five points behind their opponents.

She sighed, she didn't know why she was doing so badly. She supposed it was just one of those days where you couldn't do anything right. She had to ask herself, why it had to be today when the scouts were watching her play? What a disaster this was turning out to be, how would they see her potential if she was performing like she never knew how to play the game in the first place? It made her feel even more angry at herself. She couldn't wait to get back on court and show them what she could do.

Her knee was bouncing up and down, she felt restless. She had to show them that she deserved a chance to be in the Korean team, it was now or never!

She then felt someone sit beside her. She turned her head and saw her Coach, who patted her on the back.

"Hey, you okay?"

Jisoo exhaled, "I don't know, I am letting you guys down so bad. My performance is so terrible, I would understand if you benched me for the whole game."

Minzy glanced at the game on the court and turned her attention back to Jisoo, "I wouldn't do that to you, you know that."

"I would if I were you, Coach. Today, I am just a liability."

Minzy smiled at her, "Jisoo, do you remember the reason why you play the game?"

"Huh?"

"Do you remember what you told me when you first tried out for the team?" 

Jisoo didn't understand what her Coach was getting at, but she scrunched up her forehead and thought hard, "I think I told you that I wanted to be a part of the team because I was passionate about the game and I loved it like no one else."

"Exactly. It is not about pleasing the people around you, you just did what you did because you loved it. It didn't matter what other people thought, you just played like you were having fun."

"But I always play that way, Coach."

Minzy looked at her knowingly, "Are you sure? Think about it." she says, and patted her on the back once again, then stood up.

Jisoo tried to think about what her Coach just told her, she was confused, she always played like she normally did. She looked around the stands, the people seemed to be focused on what was happening on the court. At least her teammates were doing a good job of entertaining them.

Suddenly, she was met with a pair of two familiar eyes, eyes she never thought would ever set foot on this court. She was suddenly taken back a few years ago, when things were still less complicated.

_That's what I admire about you, Chu._

_What? What about me that you admire?_

_You don't mind what other people think, or say. You just go with it, as long as you know that it makes you happy, you just don't care._

She was back once again in the gym, with people booing the other team when they made another shot, putting them back seven points behind.

And that's when she understood what her Coach meant, the reason why she was playing so badly.

She was too concerned about what the scouts thought of her, that it frazzled her nerves. It wasn't always about pleasing them, she just needed to be herself, and that meant playing and having fun to her heart's content. She was too worried that she might not be the person they were looking for, when it shouldn't really matter. She knew what she was capable of and her teammates trusted her to do her job, and do it well.

She then looked at Minzy, "Coach, I'm ready."

She smiled, "Good, I never thought you'd show up. I'll sub you in during the next timeout."

She nodded, then she looked once again towards the location of where those pair of eyes were, who took another glance at her. Funny that she would be the one to wake her up when she needed it the most. Funny that it had to be Jennie Kim of all people, who told her in no circumstances would she ever watch one of her games. 

She had Kai beside her, she guessed she had no option but to say yes. Jisoo was sure she wanted to impress him. Typical.

A few minutes in and Jisoo was back with a vengeance. All of her shots were falling, and she was able to call the right plays and helped her team rally from the seven-point deficit. Her teammates responded in kind, giving the ball to her as much as possible. Their opponents had no answer to Jisoo, and the crowd went wild once she began tearing up the court.

Lisa was grinning as she ran behind her, "Welcome back, Captain!" she said, and slapped Jisoo's butt, who laughed at her comment. 

She was carrying the ball, she looked around and decided to call a play. Her favorite one.

"Number Five! Number Five!" she shouted, and her teammates understood right away. 

They went to their respective spots and the ball started moving around, and so did she. She did the necessary screens, and her teammates did as well until she was finally open. Seulgi passed her the ball and she dribbled it from the side towards the center, cutting into the falling defense of Cube High.

She jumped in for a layup, and that's when she realized she was met in the air with Soojin, one of the taller members of the other team. It dawned on her that they had read their play like a book. To avoid a full on collision, Jisoo twisted her body, which made her land awkwardly once again on her right foot, causing her to grimace in pain. Reacting instinctively, she turned, hitting Soojin, making her fall on her. She heard a pop as she had tried to twist her knee even further, and the added weight of the other girl made it even worse.

A few seconds after that, Jisoo screamed in pain, it felt like a ton of needles were shooting straight into her knee. Soojin got up quickly and looked at her, concerned. 

"Jisoo, oh my God, are you okay? I'm sorry!" she said, as Jisoo squirmed on the floor. She knew Soojin was not at fault, but she understood how she felt. All four of her teammates went towards her immediately, and the referee whistled to stop the clock. 

"Jisoo, Jisoo, are you okay?" Lisa called out to her. She was kneeling beside her, it was obvious she didn't know what to do.

She couldn't speak, the pain was too much, it was like she was seeing stars. The crowd was murmuring all around her, and her teammates were calling out to her. Was this the end?

She heard Coach Minzy command her players to spread out and not crowd around her, then she was taken by medics on a stretcher towards their locker room. She didn't want to go, she had to finish the game. She was okay, she wanted to say.

But the pain in her knee told her otherwise.


	6. Chapter 6

Jisoo was sitting on the hospital bed, looking outside of the window. She was contemplating her fate, how did it turn out like this?

**_Flashback_ **

After her accident, Coach Minzy had an ambulance called and had her immediately sent to Seoul General to have her leg checked. It was obvious that Jisoo's knee was injured, it was red and swollen and her coach did not want to take any chances. Thankfully, she knew an orthopedic surgeon there, and called upon him right away so he could be the one to do a full check-up on Jisoo.

Minzy also contacted her parents, and her dad had said he will be on his way together with her sister, Irene. When they got there, Dr. Daesung Kang was almost done doing some basic checks on her knee. He faced her father and told him that they would need to do an X-Ray to assess the damage.

Irene had hugged her sister and asked her how she was doing. Jisoo had told her that she felt a lot of pain, but she didn't tell her how worried she was about what this could mean. She was silently praying it wasn't too serious. Her dad was mostly talking to her doctor, and had checked on her afterwards. She told him the same thing she told Irene.

As soon as the X-Ray was done and the results were out, Irene held Jisoo's hand as they listened to his diagnosis. The doctor stood in front of them, his expression giving nothing away. 

Finally, he breathed out and told them what he found. According to him, Jisoo had sustained a torn ACL, which the doctor explained was a common injury, especially for athletes playing contact sports. He told them the cause of it was when Jisoo had twisted her knee, and it worsened when the player from the opposing team fell on it.

"I'm sorry Doc, but I just wanted to know if this can affect my sister's future as a basketball player?" Irene asked directly.

"Well, I can't really say yet. Unfortunately, Jisoo would need to undergo surgery in order for her to fully recover and play again. But this will take time, and I'm sorry to let you know that you will be unable to play for the rest of the season until your knee gets better."

Jisoo's face went pale, this was the worst news that she had received thus far. She could take her grandmother insulting her, her parents neglecting her, all of it she'd take, but not this. Not when even the doctor sounded unsure about her future.

"What do we need to do Doc in order for that to happen?" her father asked.

"Jisoo needs some time to recover her knee before the surgery, I would say around three months. During that time, she needs to go into physical therapy in order to strengthen it in time for the operation. Once the surgery is done, she needs to heal and do more rehab so she can get it back to how it had worked before. This also depends on the severity, and can take between six months to a year. By then, we'll know if she would be fit to play basketball again."

"Is there anything that can be done to raise the success rate of her recovery?" 

"She just needs to follow instructions. During the time she is prepping for surgery, she has to rest and take care of her knee so it's healing will be smooth and won't be hindered further. I also need to do an MRI so we can further check on it's status." her doctor told them. 

Irene sighed, "Jisoo is as stubborn as a mule. Dad, let me transfer to YG High, she needs someone to take care of her." Irene tells her dad. Jisoo was too numb to say anything. Her brain was still trying to process everything.

"I can't let you do that Irene, you are already in the middle of exams, and you are about to graduate! Besides, Taeyeon can take care of Jisoo."

"No she can't dad, you know that! Aunt Taeyeon is busy with work, and she has to help take care of grandma. You can't possibly let her handle Jisoo alone!" Irene huffed.

"No Irene."

"Then I'll stop. I can graduate with Jisoo together next year, who cares." she tells her dad with finality. 

"I can't let you do that!"

"Watch me!" she tells him, eyes blazing. She was done with them treating Jisoo like she wasn't their daughter.

"You can't be serious."

"You know me dad, and Jisoo is my sister. She is your daughter as much as I am. The least you could do is let me do this for her."

There was a pause as both father and daughter looked at each other. Seunghyun Kim sighed, he knew he was not winning this battle of wills. Irene was as stubborn, if not more so, than Jisoo.

"Alright, since I don't want you to stop schooling, I'll agree. But, you have to promise me that you will work hard and not get behind your studies. Understood?"

"Noted."

"Alright, I'll have my secretary do the paperwork for your immediate transfer. But you can't go to Jisoo yet until that's all finalized, alright? I'll ask Jin to take your place in the meantime if Taeyeon is not available."

Irene nodded. Seunghyun then faced Dr. Kang once again, "Dr. Kang, is there anything else we need to do so we can make Jisoo's life easier?"

"You need to buy her crutches, I assume that she still needs to go to school. But, I wouldn't recommend for her to move until after a week, so she needs to stay here for the meantime. I can also give you a list of all the physical therapists I know who can help your daughter get back into shape as soon as possible. I'll also need to put her knee into a brace, so she doesn't have to move it too much when she begins to walk around. I'll also add some prescription drugs to help her with the pain, and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me. Minzy is a good friend of mine and I would gladly help the people who she considers important."

He nodded, "Okay, I'll take note of everything that you told me."

"Do you have anymore questions?"

"None so far."

"Alright, I'll leave you guys alone for now. I'll go ahead and schedule that MRI for her." 

With that, Dr. Kang left the room, while Irene and her father tried so see what they could do to make her feel better.  
  
 ** _End of Flashback_**

Jisoo sighed, nothing they said or did made her feel better. She felt lost, and for the first time in a long time, she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. What if the doctor told her she couldn't play anymore? What was she going to do? Basketball was the only thing she knew she was good at. She didn't know anything else. Without it, she was an empty shell, pretending to live and breathe.

She had no more direction, no clear goal. It was as if she had died in a video game but there were no continues, no saves, no reset button. Everything was back to square one.

Her teammates had visited her the next day, all of them trying to cheer her up. Lisa stayed the longest, but even her best friend wasn't able to get through the wall she had put up for herself. She tried, but Jisoo was not having it. They didn't understand. 

Nobody would understand how utterly useless she felt. Maybe her grandma was right, she really held no important contribution to this world.

She was still wallowing in her self-pity when the door to her room opened. She didn't turn around to see who it was, what was the use? They should just leave her to rot.

"Jisoo?" the person called out, albeit hesitantly.

The only reason she snapped out of her stupor was the fact that the voice she heard had sounded so familiar, yet was also the last one she didn't expect to hear inside these four walls. Was she imagining things?

To make sure, she turned her head to see who it was, and was taken back by surprise.

I mean, who wouldn't be when it was Jennie Kim who was standing right in front of her?

********************

Jennie felt restless as Kai and her sat on the stands to watch the game. He had insisted that they checked it out because apparently, the teams that were facing today were pretty good, and he didn't want to miss it. 

He promised her that he would take her somewhere nice after this. 

She sighed, she really wanted to impress him. If watching the game made it possible, then she would do it. However, she remembered telling Jisoo that she wouldn't be caught dead doing this. Yet here she was. That demon was going to laugh at her for sure afterwards.

Kai better make it worth her while.

Despite that, he was the perfect gentleman and was able to provide her food and drinks for the game. The gym was jam-packed and people were getting very excited. 

As soon as the game started, everybody's focus was on the court. It was good so far, and the lead kept changing hands. But everyone, including herself, noticed one glaring detail: Kim Jisoo was missing.

Not physically missing, but she wasn't playing as good as everyone expected. She kept missing her shots, fumbling the ball, and wasting their chances. Even Jennie was sighing at her, despite the fact that the girl annoyed her to no end.

Kai was talking about the game almost like an on court announcer, telling Jennie almost every detail, "Oh here they come! Jisoo has the ball again, and...oh man! It's a..."

"...three second violation. She should have moved, not stood there like a statue. Stupid." Jennie commented as she took a sip from her coke. That was when she realized what she had just said.

"Wait, you know how basketball works? You never told me that." Kai said, looking at her curiously.

She swallowed her drink, she really didn't want to have this conversation. 

_Me and my stupid mouth._

"Uh yeah, I know a bit, but not much."

"That's cool, that means I can talk to you about the game!" he tells her excitedly. She groaned inwardly, she didn't want Kai to keep on talking to her about something she wasn't interested in.

They continued to watch the game, and Jisoo kept making mistakes, which wasn't like her. She couldn't help thinking what was wrong with her, it could be that she was having an off night. But even if she was, Jennie just knew she wouldn't push herself like this. She would delegate the task to her teammates.

The whistle blew, and the rest of the people stood up, including Jennie. Jisoo was on her third foul, two more and she would be out. 

"Damn it ref, are you blind? That was uncalled for! It was obviously a flop!" Jennie complained, moving her hands in agitation, making Kai look at her in amusement. 

"Not much, huh?" 

Jennie realized what she was doing, and sat down, feeling her face burn with embarrassment. 

"Yeah, not much."

Kai sat down beside her and tilted his head, "Who taught you about basketball? I never heard your dad talk about the game, so it must be somebody else."

_Somebody who wouldn't shut up about it and it's none of your business._

"From an uncle. Like I said, it's not much."

He shrugged, "Alright."

Jisoo was benched after that. She couldn't help but look at her curiously, she wanted to know what was wrong with her. She knew she shouldn't be thinking about these things but here she was, wondering what was up. She noticed that her coach had tried talking to her, and after that, she had looked even more confused than ever.

Jisoo had started to scan the crowd, hoping for an answer. Before she could turn away, their eyes locked, and for a moment, basing on what she had seen through her eyes, she somehow understood why the girl was playing badly, something that hadn't happened for a long time. With that, she unconsciously, told her that she should just be herself. She snapped out of it when Jisoo blinked and she quickly turned away.

 _What the fuck was that?_ She asked herself. She glanced at her again and the other girl had the audacity to smirk at her.

She rolled her eyes and turned away again, and that's when the other girl stood up so she could be subbed back in.

It was a very different Jisoo that returned into the court that night.

She was tearing up the scoreboards, making shot after shot after shot. Cube High's defense was ineffective, and YG High was brought back to life!

The crowd went wild, this was what they wanted to see, Jisoo playing as if her life depended on it! It was a sight to behold, even as Jennie didn't want to admit it to herself. 

The crowd was up on their feet when she heard Jisoo shout to her teammates, "Number Five! Number Five!"

That's when all hell broke loose. 

Jennie watched as if in slow motion when Jisoo fell and twisted her knee. She saw her grit her teeth, how she tried to adjust her stance when she fell, how she bumped into the other girl, how she fell on the ground while her opponent fell smack down right on top of her knee. How she heard her scream in pain after that. 

YG High lost the game, 87-95 when Jisoo was taken away by an ambulance. Her team just lost their will to play. They moved towards their locker rooms with their heads down.

The rest of the crowd started to move outside, and the hot topic was what had happened to Kim Jisoo on the court.

Kai was looking around and sighed, "I know you dislike her, and I also think she's kind of an asshole. But man, that's a huge loss to the team if something happened to her."

Jennie silently agreed. She wondered if she was okay. 

Wait, why was she worrying about her?

"Well, let's get out of here." Kai said as she smiled at her, but for some reason, she really did not want to go anywhere after what happened.

What was wrong with her? This was her chance, yet here she was, being all dramatic.

"Kai, I'm so sorry, I don't feel too good. Is it okay if we can put a rain check on this for another day?" she told him, it almost felt like an outer body experience, as if she wasn't the one giving him the news.

"Oh, alright. Are you okay? I'll just take you home then."

"Yeah, it's just that I have a really bad headache, and I don't want to ruin your day because of this."

"It's fine, Jennie. We can always go out again. Come on, let's go."

And so, Kai took her home. 

That night, she had a restless sleep.

A few days later, news about Jisoo's injury spread like wildfire throughout the school. According to the sources, her doctor had asked her to stay for a week in the hospital as she needed to undergo surgery. 

Jennie wished they would change the topic, she wasn't a celebrity, but people were acting like she was. She didn't want to hear all about her but she had no choice. Nayeon was no help either. She even wanted to go the hospital to comfort the demon.

She decided to just focus on her lessons, but something still nagged at her. She just couldn't pinpoint what it was. 

She was about to head out to lunch when their Math teacher, Miss Lee, called out to her. She immediately went back to see what she needed.

"Yes Ma'am? Do you need any help from me?"

Miss Lee smiled at her, "Actually Jennie, yes I do. But first, I wanted to tell you that for this grading period, unfortunately I cannot give you a grade higher than a B. When you had to take that exam that you told me about, you had missed out on some major projects and quizzes. But not to worry, a B is not a hindrance to getting into the schools you need"

Jennie froze. Having a B was not good enough. Well, not to her mom anyway. Anything less than an A was almost like a mortal sin. She was not having this!

"Miss Lee, I have been doing really good in class, there must be a way for me to bump that B into an A?" 

"Well, there is one thing you could do in order for that to happen. But I am not sure if you would be up to the task." Miss Lee told her thoughtfully.

"Ma'am, I am willing to do anything for this to be possible." Jennie says, trying to look determined. 

Miss Lee played with her pen on her desk, then gazed at Jennie.

"Well then, I suppose I could give it a shot. I am sure that you are already aware what had happened to your classmate, miss Kim Jisoo, right?"

"Yes?"

"You see, she has been so behind in my class. Now that she is injured and cannot attend for the rest of the week, she really needs help in bumping her grades up."

Jennie wasn't surprised, Jisoo had always been bad at Math. But she didn't like where this was going.

"What are you trying to say, Miss Lee?"

"All I'm trying to say Miss Kim is, if you really want to get that A, I need you to help Jisoo out with her Math. If possible, with her English too, but for that, I won't force you. The only thing you need to make sure is she gets a good enough grade for my subject so she can pass."

That sounded almost like suicide. There was no way in hell Jisoo would agree to this, especially with the state that she was in right now.

"I-I don't know Miss Lee, that sounds like a lot of work, and you know how Jisoo and I are."

"Yes, I know that you the other Miss Kim are always at odds, but it doesn't mean it can't work. But then, this is just an option for you, Jennie. If you don't want to do it, it's fine, but you would need to keep that B."

Jennie breathed in deeply, to be honest, she wanted to swallow her pride and just accept that B. But she was too scared of her mother, she hated disappointing her, and disappointing her meant not getting an A.

But then what if her mother would find out? 

No, she wouldn't find out. She would make sure. 

But then she would have to work with that demon, and she would be insufferable, she could feel it! 

She groaned inwardly, what was she going to do? Just take the B or work for that A?

Finally, after thinking about it for a few minutes, she decided.

"Alright Miss Lee, I'll help Jisoo with her Math."

It wasn't worth to get her mother's ire. She had to show her she was a good daughter, even if it meant helping Kim Jisoo.

"Thank you, Miss Kim. Since you're here, can you please send these assignments to her? She needs to answer them and with you there, you can teach her if she is having trouble or if she has any questions."

She looked at the papers and took them, "Okay, Miss Lee, I will."

A few hours later, she found herself in front of Jisoo's room. She had asked the information desk about where it was and they were kind enough to point her to the right direction. She breathed in and out slowly, she wasn't looking forward to this, but she had to do this.

And so, deciding to swallow her pride, she turned the knob and entered her room. 

The room was in shades of white and pink. When she looked towards the bed, she noticed that the older girl was looking quietly outside the window, that she almost didn't want to disturb her. But she had to, she was here on a mission. 

Clearing her throat, she called out tentatively, "Jisoo?"

When the other girl heard her and turned to see who it was, Jennie could clearly see the shock written on her face.

To be honest, she wasn't surprised. I mean who would believe that Jennie Kim was inside Kim Jisoo's hospital room?

Nobody, that's for sure.


	7. Chapter 7

"What are you doing here Jennie?" Jisoo asks her coldly, as she watches the other girl close the door behind her.

Jennie looks at her as she leans her back on the door, the dread in her stomach growing. She shouldn't have decided to face Jisoo while she was still in the hospital. She should have just waited until she was back in school. But here she was, face to face with the person who obviously didn't want to have anything to do with her.

She was starting to regret this decision of coming here first.

But there was no turning back. Swallowing her pride, she breathed in for luck as she strode towards Jisoo's bed.

"I came here because I know what happened, and I wanted to give you these." she says, as she puts down a stack of papers on the table beside her bed.

Jisoo eyed her suspiciously, "What are those?"

"It's the math homework you have been missing since you were hospitalized. Miss Lee told me that you have been behind so much, and wanted to make sure that you were still able to keep up, so she asked me to send these to you. She's really worried about you, Jisoo." she says, as she held the hem of her shirt. She felt really nervous. Jisoo gave her a hard stare.

"And why would that be your problem, Jennie? You don't care if I fail Math. You wouldn't come here even if the Pope himself asked you to, unless you had something in it for you." she tells her pointedly.

She decided that this would be the best time to come clean. 

"I know you don't trust me Jisoo, and that's fine. Miss Lee did ask me to come here and help you out with bumping your grades in Math. She felt I would be able to raise it up, especially during these times."

"In return of what? You're not doing this out of the goodness of your own heart." she says sarcastically.

Jennie licked her lips, this was it, "She told me that it will raise my B into an A." she finally says while avoiding her stare. 

Jisoo gave her a mirthless laugh, "Oh my God, seriously? What would your mother say if she found out you were here right now? You'd risk it all to please her for a what? An A?" 

Jennie raised her hands in frustration, "I know, alright? You know how she is."

"Yeah, I know how she is." Jisoo answered, the coldness in her voice even more apparent than before.

"Look Jisoo, I know what you are going through isn't easy right now. I know how much you love basketball, but you just can't leave your grades behind. When you're okay and back in shape, the colleges-"

Jisoo angrily swatted the papers away on the table, "DON'T TALK TO ME AS IF YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL! DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE...LIKE I WILL BE OKAY!" she screamed at Jennie, the anger and frustration in her eyes now boring into her. Jennie stood there frozen, not knowing what to do.

"We are not friends! We are no longer friends, you made sure of that. I don't care about math, or whatever else! I don't...I have nothing else, and you don't know how that feels because you always have everything handed out to you!" she lashed out at her, her eyes now brimming with tears. Jennie's heart was pounding, and for the first time in a long time, she felt guilty, and she could feel how hopeless Jisoo was about her situation.

"Jisoo..."

Jisoo closed her eyes, "Don't, just don't Jennie. I don't need your pity."

She was about to say something when the door to the room opened. When Jennie turned to see who it was, she was face to face with Irene, Jisoo's older sister. 

The tension in the room became even thicker as Irene gave her the stare down.

"What the fuck are you doing here Jennie?"

Jennie opened and closed her mouth, but nothing came out. If Jisoo disliked her, Irene absolutely _hated_ her.

"She was just leaving, Irene." Jisoo says, the tiredness now apparent in her voice.

"What did she do to you?"

"Nothing. She was just...she just sent my math assignment here. She was asked by Miss Lee to help me out with it."

Irene looked at Jennie with the utmost contempt.

"Are you trying to get my sister in trouble? She already has too much on her plate, and you want to make sure that your mom finds out that you were here? How many times have I told you to stay away from her!" she says, the venom dripping in her voice.

Jisoo held Irene's hand and shook her head.

"She didn't come here to cause trouble, she just wanted to help. Jennie, just go. Please." she says, her eyes begging her to do so. Jennie nodded and quickly went out of the door.

Her heart was still beating hard when she walked towards the elevator. That was a bad idea.She shouldn't have come here in the first place.

The A was not worth it. She'll just take that B and face her mother's wrath. She'll survive.

But for some reason, Jisoo's frustrated expression stayed with her. 

*************************

Lisa was listlessly playing with her food in the cafeteria. She was sitting alone and didn't want to talk with anyone that day. She was feeling down, she had been visiting her best friend in the hospital everyday, and each time she was there, she was only met with Jisoo's sullen expression. She wanted to tell her it was okay, that she would be better, that it was not the end of the world. But to Jisoo, it might as well have been.

She understood why, not many people might get it, but she knew Jisoo had put all of her cards in basketball. In that dream. She didn't look at nothing else. There was no second option. No buts. No whys. She just wanted that, period.

Now that there was a chance that it will be taken away from her, her best friend had focused on the fact that she might never get to play again. That the future was bleak and empty. She wanted to take her best friend away from the hellhole that she had started digging for herself. She wanted to tell her that she had a lot more going for her if she only looked past the fact that basketball was the only thing she was good at.

Jisoo was smart, and had other talents as well. But her grandma had drummed into her that she was not good enough, that she will never be good enough, and thus she believed it. The only saving grace she had was to play. It was her escape and her happiness, and taking that away from her was almost like taking out a vital part of her body. 

What was she going to do?

She sighed as she threw the fork back on her plate, she just didn't have the appetite to eat anything. 

"You shouldn't really waste food." 

Lisa looked up and was met with the concerned eyes of Rosé. She smiled at her, then put her tray on the table and sat down across from her, "Although, I understand. Cafeteria food is a little bit unappetizing."

Lisa gave her a small smile, "Sometimes I think they give us these in the hopes we get food poisoning."

Rosé chuckled, "You trust in them too much for them to think like that."

"You're right." she says, sighing.

Rosé held her hand, which made her stare at it in surprise. The girl was pretty forward.

"Lisa, I know we aren't that close or anything, but I just wanted to know if you are okay? You have been acting so down lately." she asks her with a worried tone. 

"I'm okay." she says immediately. Way to go for being subtle, Lisa.

Rosé gave her a sympathetic smile, "I know I shouldn't be prying, but I am sure that this has something to do with your best friend. I saw what happened and after that, you haven't been yourself lately. I just wanted you to know that although I might be a new friend in your life, I'm willing to listen if you need someone to talk to." she tells her. She then let's go of her hand and opens her milk carton.

"I just don't know what to do, Rosé. I have been visiting everyday and nothing I say seems to be getting to her. I'm really worried." she suddenly blurts out. She even surprises herself, she normally isn't this open to anyone else, and she was closer to the rest of her teammates. But for some reason, it just feels easier to say this to the girl.

Rosé stops and gazes at her in understanding, "I may not know what Jisoo might be feeling right now, but I can guess she must be truly devastated about what happened."

"She is, basketball is her life! Without it, it's like she's not able to breathe. I don't know how to make her feel that there is still a reason to keep going."

Rosé thinks long and hard about it. Finally, she looks at Lisa once again, "I think I would feel the same way if music was taken away from me. I would be depressed if that ever happens. But, at the same time, I also don't want to wallow in it because I know there is so much more to live for. Could it be that Jisoo doesn't feel that she doesn't have anything else in her life to look forward to?"

Lisa nodded, "Yes, you got that part right."

"That is really difficult to deal with." Rosé takes in a deep breath, "But, despite that, you really have to stand your ground. You have to be patient, hear her out if she needs to release her anger, understand her if she lashes out at you or anyone around her. She is grieving, Lisa. Even if there is still a chance she can still play, she can't see that right now. She probably thinks even if she does get back on that court, she will never be the same again. She feels her knee is forever broken. That she IS broken."

Lisa became silent. What Rosé told her extremely made sense. No wonder her best friend couldn't be comforted, she was already thinking that there was no way she would return the same way she used to be.

"Lisa, in times like these, you have to be strong for her. She needs you more than ever, even if she tries to push you away. Just you being there for her and showing her that there is a lot more reason for her to get back up will make her feel that she isn't truly alone. Right now, that's the only thing she feels."

"Like she is surrounded by people but she still feels lonely?"

"Exactly."

"I see. Thank you, Rosé. I think I know what I need to do now." 

Rosé smiled kindly at her, "Glad to help. Let me know if there is anything you need, I'm just a call away, okay? You don't need to carry this burden by yourself. You have your friends with you, and if you'll have me, I'll be yours as well."

Lisa grinned at her, "I would be stupid if I didn't think you would be a friend after all this."

"True." she says, winking as she bit into her sandwich.

"You're insufferable."

"I try."

Little did they know that on the table next to them, Jennie had accidentally been eavesdropping into their conversation.

*************************

It was a cold, Satuday afternoon, and Jisoo was already being discharged from the hospital. Unfortunately, this didn't improve her mood in the slightest. 

Jin was honestly at a loss on how to deal with this, but he still kept a strong facade despite everything. Jisoo might not be his sister, but she might as well be. She loved that kid, and would do anything for her. 

Her dad, Irene, her friends as well as himself, rallied and went together with her when she was released. When she reached the house, they made sure that she was comfortable and had everything she needed. Whatever she requested, they gave to her right away. She still didn't want to talk to people though, and was usually moping or trying to pretend to sleep.

Their aunt Taeyeon was pretty worried about her niece as well, but because her work was so demanding, she couldn't spend a lot of time with Jisoo. She could only do short video calls to check how she was doing. 

Thankfully, Jisoo's grandma wasn't around today. One of their aunts, who also had it in for his cousin, took her on a vacation. She wouldn't be back until next week, giving Jisoo some room to breathe. 

Their grandma wasn't too happy when she found out about her granddaughter's injury. 

He wished she would just find some chill and leave his cousin alone.

Once everyone else was gone, Jin sat down beside her. Jisoo was looking out the window. He noticed that she had been doing that a lot these days.

"Hey kiddo, how are you doing?" he gently asked as he adjusted her bed covers.

"I'm fine." she says flatly.

"You know you could always talk to me, right?"

"I know, Jin. I just want to be left alone."

He became silent, he wished he could tell her the right words to make her feel better, but he knew that she didn't want to hear anything about her injury at the moment.

"You want me to make your your favorite milk coffee?"

"No, I just want to sleep for now."

Jin pats her back and stands up, it's best that he gives her some space, perhaps time can heal the pain she was currently feeling. 

"Alright, I'll just be downstairs if you need anything okay?"

Jisoo nodded, "Okay."

"Sleep well, kiddo."

Jisoo lies down and faces her back to him, not saying a word. He sighs as he gets up and slowly closes the door behind him.

As he walks down the stairs, he hears the doorbell chime. He wondered who could it be. It was probably Lisa, she had been doing her best to be by Jisoo's side, despite her current sunny disposition.

As he opened the door to welcome the guest, he was taken by surprise when he saw who it was. It was like seeing a ghost, only this was one was short and had chubby cheeks.

"Jennie?"

Her eyes grew wide as she saw who it was, then she looked down on the ground, "Hey Jin. Is...is Jisoo already here?" she says as she played with her thumbs.

"Yeah, she got here a few hours ago. Is there something you need from her?"

She could see Jennie visibly swallow, it was obvious that she was nervous, "I-you know what maybe I'll come back another time."

"And have my grandma open the door and see you? Not a very good idea if you ask me. You're lucky she isn't here today."

Jennie bit her lip, she seemed to be contemplating something.

Jin sighed, "Why don't you come in? Then you can tell me what you need from her." he says as he opened the door wider.

She looked at him uncertainly, "Are you sure? I know you hate me and-"

"I don't hate you, Jennie. I am not Irene. Disappointed, yes. But hate, hate is too strong a word. Come in, please. It's getting cold."

Jennie hesitated for a bit, thendecided to head inside. As she took off her shoes, she looked around, a small smile evident in her face.

"Would you like some hot chocolate?"

"No, I won't be staying long."

"Alright. Sit down." he says as he motioned her towards the couch. She complied right away, but saw that she was still a bit uneasy.

"Jennie, why are you here?" he asked her.

She put her hands on her lap and exhaled, "I'm here to help her with her Math, or any subject if she needs it." she quickly stated, not looking at him in the eye.

He stared at her, his look calculating, "Now why would you do that?"

"I need to get my Math grade from B, up to an A." she answered, still not looking at him directly.

"So if it's just Math, why are you offering the other subjects as well?" he asked as he crosses his arms. This was an interesting development.

"It's the least I could do for her. If she wants to."

"If she wants to. I don't know, Jennie. She barely refuses to talk or see anyone, I don't think it would be a good idea if I let her see you in her current state."

"I know, I was there when she was at the hospital. She was angry at me and refused to listen to what I had to say." she tells him, her voice low.

"Does your mom know you're doing this?"

She hesitated once again, "No."

"What if she finds out?"

"She won't."

"How do you know?"

"She won't, Jin. I am not that heartless." she sighs, he could see that her eyes were tired. She must have thought this through.

"I am just worried about my cousin, I care about her and I am not about to put her through the same shit that happened before." he tells her directly, his tone serious. She was not going to make this easy for her, not after everything.

"I understand, and I promise I won't. You don't think my mom won't kill me if she finds out I got a B?"

He gave her a small smile. Maybe, just maybe, this was the answer. He knew Irene was going to kill him if she found out, but Jin wan't blind, nobody knew Jisoo better than Jennie herself.

He also could see that she was partly lying, maybe it was true before, but it sure as hell wasn't true now.

"Jennie, when you were gone, Jisoo had almost nothing. The Jisoo you see now was almost the same as the one you left a few years ago. The only thing that got her through that was basketball. You remember she wasn't really an athletic person, right?"

"Yes, she wasn't. But, I don't understand what this has got to do with this situation."

"It has everything to do with it. She mentioned to me several times that she was always the last one to be picked on her team at her previous school. She never got to play, and that broke her heart. So when you left, she went to me and passed to me the ball. You know what she told me that day?"

Jennie looked at him, "What did she tell you?"

"I don't want to be the same person I was before. I want to become the best player in the world."

Jennie's eyebrows furrowed.

"That summer, she worked hard. Everyday, she played, from morning till night, until she could not get up. She would make shot after shot, not stopping until she met her quota. She asked me to play with her, and she even would ask for a pick-up game from some basketball courts in the area. These were against men. Some of them even half her age, yet she did not bat an eye. She was serious, she wanted this. Even when she made the team in YG, she continued and never stopped working for it. The Jisoo you see on YGs court is the product of all of that. Do you see where I am getting at?"

She nodded slowly, swallowing a lump that seemed to form on her throat.

"If you are serious about helping her, then you also have to be serious in getting through the wall that Jisoo has put up for herself. Her life is centered around basketball, you must make her see that there is more to her than that. Because, just arguing with her about her grades is not going to cut it, she doesn't give a damn about that. So do you think you can handle that or not? Because if not, it's best that you just leave now and never come back."

Jennie looked shocked, it was obvious she didn't expect the challenge being given out to her. 

"Come on, do you seriously think she will listen to you if you half-ass her like that?"

"No, she wouldn't. She's very stubborn."

Jin pointed at her, "You got that right, so what will it be, Jennie? Are you up for the challenge or are you going to take the easy way out as usual?"

Jin knew she triggered her with that, because she locked her eyes with his, determination brimming inside of it.

"I never back down from a challenge."

The smirk that formed on Jin's face showed that he had won this battle.


	8. Chapter 8

Jisoo was still lost in her thoughts when she heard a knock on her door. Closing her eyes in frustration, she just wished that people would leave her be. She didn't want to pretend that everything was okay.

She knew they meant well, but the fact of the matter was, no one would ever understand how she feels. So she rather be here by herself than be pressured into pretending to feel better for their sake.

The knock came again, this time, she groaned and turned her body to face the door.

"What is it Jin? I'm trying to sleep." she tells him, the frustration evident in her voice.

The door creaked open, and she saw someone who she thought would never step foot in this room again. 

"Hey."

Jisoo wanted to throw something at her, but she stopped herself, "What the fuck, Jennie. Can't you understand the word no? Who let you in anyway?" she snapped, she wasn't in the mood to act nice.

Jennie opened the door wider and entered her space. God, she always did what she wanted.

"It was Jin oppa who let me in." she tells her as she stared straight at her.

"Seriously? I don't want you here Jennie. I don't want to see your face, or hear your voice, or have anything to do with you. I just want to be left alone. Can't you just do that please?"

"I can't do that." she answered simply.

Jisoo groaned in frustration, what the hell was wrong with her?

"Were you born to ruin my life? Are you enjoying this, are you enjoying my suffering? Just tell me!" she shouts at her, she could feel the blood pumping in her veins. Her anger was threatening to overwhelm her.

Jennie opened her mouth, but seemed to think the better of it. She then stood straighter and looked at her in the eye, "As much as you want to think badly of my intentions, of course I don't enjoy seeing you like this. Are you really going to keep beating yourself up over this?"

Jisoo snorts at that, "Who do you think you are to say that to me?"

Jennie now had that stubborn look Jisoo knew all too well. 

"We may no longer be friends now, that's true, and I'm not going to pretend we are. But I can't just watch you go and ruin your life. There's more to you than you're willing to accept, and whether you like it or not, I'm going to make sure you will see that in time." she tells her as she moves forward to where her PC was, "Here's your schoolwork for the week. I'm not going to push you into answering these, I know you won't do the things you don't like because I know how stubborn you are." she says as she places the stack of papers on the desk, then turns back to her.

"But, I'll come here everyday if I have to, to remind you that there is more to life than moping around and pitying yourself for something you have no control over. I'm offering to tutor you with Math or otherwise if you need it."

Jisoo was rendered speechless for a moment by what she told her. Is she for real?

"Wait, all of this...for an A?" she asks, not really believing what she was hearing.

Jennie shrugged.

Jisoo shook her head, she had no time for this, whatever Jennie was thinking.

"Look, I don't need help, especially coming from you. What I want you to do is to walk out of that door and never come back. I don't need you in my life. Do what you do best, leave."

Jennie was clenching her fists as she said that, she was obviously trying to hold back her temper.

"I'll be back tomorrow." she says, and turns around to head outside the door.

"Don't, there is nothing here for you. You'll give up eventually, like you always do." Jisoo tells her, "In fact, I expect it."

Jennie glowers at her and slams the door close.

Jisoo slumped back into her bed and exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding. She hated this feeling, the one where it seems she has no control over her emotions. She hated it so much because it just reminded her that until now, Jennie still had an effect on her.

*************************

Monday couldn't have come any sooner and Jisoo was definitely not looking forward to it. She really didn't want to go, but Jin forced her to. He wouldn't stop bugging her until she got up. He was lucky that she couldn't move her other foot or he'll definitely get kicked in the face. 

Jin had offered to help her with her morning routines but she vehemently disagreed. She didn't want to feel like some invalid, she was still able to move and that was what mattered. She told him to just wait for her downstairs.

Her going was slow, but she was still able to get into her uniform without needing to ask for help, and she felt relieved. She couldn't imagine having her family members always being by her side and trying to help her do the things she normally could do before this happened to her.

Well, that's what she thought at first. After she put on her brace, she realized she couldn't put on her socks because she was unable to bend her knee. She did everything in her power she could think of to make that possible, but it just didn't happen. She threw her sock out of frustration onto the wall. Maybe she'll just stay home after all.

"Jisoo? Hey Jisoo, are you ready?" Jin called out from behind her door. She slumped into her bed, why was he being so annoying. Can't he see that she didn't want to go to school looking this helpless?

When she didn't answer, Jin opened the door and saw her staring at the ceiling. He looked around her room and immediately guessed what was wrong. He walked towards where she threw her sock, picked it up and bent down in front of her.

"Foot." he says.

Jisoo glares at him, "I don't wanna go."

"Jisoo, you have to. You can't stay in this room forever."

"Watch me." she says as she turns her back on him. She could hear him sigh as she did that.

"Jin oppa, is Jisoo ready?" she heard someone ask from behind the door.

"She's just being more stubborn than usual, Soojoo." 

"Why is she here?" Jisoo asked, not at all looking forward to what was going to transpire.

"You know you could ask me directly. I offered to drive you because I know Jin oppa needs to go to class too."

"I have no qualms about staying at home." she responds stubbornly.

"I can see that. But then we care enough to let you see that you don't have to keep living this cycle of self-pity. Can you please give me her sock?" 

Jisoo covered her head with her pillow, "Can everyone just go away?"

She felt her pillow being removed from her head and she was met with Soojoo's hard stare.

"Turn around." she commanded.

"No."

"Turn."

"No!"

Soojoo bent down and forced her to turn. She tried to fight it, but at her current state, she was unable to fight Soojoo's strength.

"This is abuse!"

"Stop acting like a child, Jesus!" the girl scolded her. She took Jisoo's sock from Jin's hand and put it on her foot, then she did the same with the other one. Afterwards, she took Jisoo's shoes and wore it on her as well. The whole time she was doing this, Jisoo was glaring at her.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it? Now, get up and get your things. I will be waiting for you downstairs." she tells her. Jin was just watching the both of them, an amused expression on his face.

"I think I'll stay here, thanks."

Soojoo faced her, "You don't want me to carry you towards my car, right?" she threatened. 

Jisoo was pretty sure she would do that and she definitely didn't want that to happen.

She huffed, "Alright! I'm going!" 

Soojoo gave her a satisfied smirk and turned around, "I'll be waiting in the car."

"Thanks Soojoo." Jin says gratefully.

"No problem, Jin oppa. We all know how hardheaded she can be."

*************************

Lisa was sitting down on the stairs in front of the school's entrance together with Seulgi, Moonbyul and Jeongyeon. They were excited to see Jisoo back in school, although she was not the same person she was before the injury. 

The old Jisoo was carefree and full of life, always laughing and didn't have a care in the world. Now, it was replaced by a mean, grumpy and childish person. Of course, Lisa understood why her best friend was acting the way she was, she knew Jisoo was still the same somewhere deep inside. She just needed to see that things were not as bleak as she thought.

Finally, they could see Jisoo walking towards the school's entrance using crutches. Soojoo was behind her, and it looked like she wasn't too happy. Jisoo was also wearing a scowl on her face. She guessed the both of them may have fought before heading off to school.

When the both of them got near, Seulgi jumped up and hugged Jisoo, "Oh my God, I actually miss your ugly face! You're finally here!"

Trust Seulgi to fail reading a room.

Jisoo just grunted back at her. The rest of them crowded around her. 

"Hey, I'm glad to see you back." Jeongyeon smiled as she squeezed her shoulder.

"Likewise." Moonbyul added.

Jisoo looked at Lisa, who grinned at her, "Hey dude, I'm happy to see you up and about again."

She just shrugged and moved forward towards the stairs.

"Hey, do you need any help?" Seulgi asked as she held on to Jisoo's arm.

The girl shook it off, "No, I'm fine. I am not helpless." 

All of them looked at each other while Soojoo rolled her eyes.

"Just let her be, or she's going to have another tantrum." Soojoo tells them, crossing her arms. 

"I was not having a tantrum." Jisoo tells her crossly.

Soojoo just smirked.

"Is she okay?" Lisa asked Soojoo, making sure to keep her voice low so the other girl wouldn't hear.

"No, she's being impossible. I'd have more luck with my five-year old nephew." Soojoo muttered.

"Thanks for doing this Soojoo, I know it isn't easy." Lisa told her sympathetically. Her friend sighed.

"Yeah, it's okay. I care about her, even if she is acting like an idiot at the moment."

"We all do. Don't worry, once she gets over this phase, she'll be back to normal." Lisa assures her.

"I hope so or I might end up killing her." 

Lisa laughed, "I'm sure you won't, unnie."

"Anyway, I'll do my best to help her get to her classes, even if she gets annoyed when someone offers it to her. I think she doesn't want to feel like she can't do anything." 

"Yeah, knowing her, Jisoo hates it when people sees her as weak. So, I am not really surprised that her reaction is like this." Lisa admits as she looks at her friend trying to go up the stairs.

"I'll do my best to be patient. Thanks for checking, Lisa." Soojoo says sincerely, smiling at her for the first time today.

"I try. Go on and take care of that big baby." Lisa joked.

Soojoo rolled her eyes playfully, "Will do."

*************************

Jennie was already inside the room when Soojoo and Jisoo arrived. For some reason, she noticed the girl seemed to be sporting that scowl on her face more often now. She guessed she wasn't too happy being forced to come to school.

She also knew she wasn't going to be thrilled about the fact that they will be having another Math quiz today. Jennie was 100% certain that the girl didn't study.

Jisoo was the type to stop trying something if she felt she was bad at it, and Math was the perfect example for that. 

She shouldn't really care, but for some reason she was concerned. She told herself it was because she really didn't want that B on her grade. Jisoo and her were two different people from very different worlds, their friendship would never work, that was the reality.

That's what she told herself since that day. That's what her mom had convinced her to think and feel. 

She shook it off as Jisoo sat down beside her. 

She saw Tzuyu take a look at Jisoo's crutches and smirked at them. She could see that she was about to say something but Jennie held her arm, and when her friend stared at her, she shook her head, mouthing to her the word "no".

Jennie could see the surprise written on her face, she gave her a puzzled look.

"Just leave her alone for now." she tells her, keeping her voice down.

"Why? Don't you hate her?" Tzuyu asked her.

"I don't like her, yes, but come on, she's obviously gone through a lot. I hate kicking people when they're down, we're not taught to be that way." Jennie reasoned out.

"Sure, with _normal_ people. She deserves it, she probably got injured because of her life choices. It's a wake up call for her to be a better person." Tzuyu says rolling her eyes, "But okay, if you say so. I'll let her be."

Jennie let out a breath, at least Tzuyu was listening to her. She was not in the mood to try and stop them if ever they started to argue. Both of them were immovable forces, and it was not a pretty sight to witness.

She was reading her notes when Miss Lee came into the room. She sat down and started checking the attendance, acknowledging Jisoo's return and even smiling at her. The girl just gave her a fake, tight-lipped smile in return.

When she announced that there will be a quiz, she heard Jisoo give out an exasperated breath, and began muttering to herself as she took out her ballpen and a scratch paper out of her bag.

As soon as she received her paper, Jennie started answering it quickly. It was pretty easy since Miss Lee had discussed to them last week about inverse functions. So not 10 minutes had passed until she had finished answering her paper. She smiled to herself as she reviewed her answers, and was quite confident about them. She was about to get up when she turned her head and she saw Jisoo staring at her paper as if it was the most confusing thing she had seen in her life. 

Jennie stopped.

Why did she stop?

She couldn't help but keep looking at Jisoo who was beginning to write circles on her scratch paper, obviously giving up on answering the test. Her scowl had deepened, and she knew she was not going to try.

 _She's so fucking stubborn._ Jennie said to herself. If she only had studied the notes she had given to her, she would be fine. But of course, that wasn't happening anytime soon.

Jisoo bit her lip and Jennie could see the frustration written on her face, then she understood somehow. 

She might say she doesn't care, but she does. She just thinks she's not good enough so she stops trying. But Jennie knew how Jisoo hated being weak at something, so if she wasn't good at it, she either ignored it or pushed it away.

_Goddamit Jennie._

She looked around and quickly took Jisoo's paper when she was sure no one was watching. 

The other girl was was taken by surprise. She was about to protest when Jennie gave her a stare, telling her to shut up or they would be caught.

Jisoo was looking at her incredulously, her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. Jennie pointed to her scratch paper and gave her a look again, telling her to pretend to keep writing something on it. 

Then she bent down and started answering her paper.

Jisoo's mouth hung open when she saw what she was doing, then realized what was happening and started writing on her scratch paper. 

After a few minutes, Jennie was done, and she checked the answers once again and was satisfied. She made sure to get some answers wrong so it wouldn't look too suspicious, but she knew Jisoo would still get a high grade for this. She looked around once again and returned the paper to her. 

They looked at each other, Jisoo eyeing her suspiciously. Jennie just gave her a tiny smirk and stood up, ready to pass her own paper.

Why she did that, she didn't know.

She just knew that she felt lighter afterwards.

*************************

Once their class had ended, Miss Lee left the room and the rest of the students started getting up to go to their next one. Jennie was already fixing her things when she heard Jisoo tell Soojoo to wait for her outside. Soojoo just sighed and did what her friend asked her to do.

Somehow, Jennie sensed what Jisoo was planning and hurriedly put all of her things in her bag. Once she was done, she was about to stand up, but Jisoo used one of her crutches to put it in front of her. Jennie glared at her, but Jisoo just glared back.

"Hey Jennie, aren't you going yet?" Tzuyu asked her.

"Uhm, you go on ahead, I still haven't finished fixing my stuff."

Tzuyu shrugged, "Okay, I'll see you at history then."

Jennie smiled at Tzuyu, then the other girl left. 

When they were finally alone, Jennie turned to look at Jisoo, her anger apparent in her face.

"What is your problem?" she asked her.

"No, what is YOUR problem? Why did you do that?"

"Oh wow, you're welcome, your highness!" Jennie says, rolling her eyes. "Now if you have nothing else to say, I am going to take my leave."

"I told you I didn't need your help! Why do you keep inserting yourself in my business?"

"You know what normal people would say? They would say 'thank you' when somebody does something nice for them." Jennie tells her sarcastically.

"Yeah, I know you don't look at me like a normal person." Jisoo huffed.

"I didn't mean it that way, stop putting words in my mouth."

"Then stop trying to do things that I said not to do!" Jisoo says, clearly agitated.

"How about you stop being so stubborn? People are trying to help you. If you'd only quit with that tunnel vision of yours, you'll see that there is so much more that you can do while you're waiting to heal." Jennie tells her, her voice getting louder.

"I don't need anybody's help! I'm fine!"

"Sure! Next time, try to act like you actually know the answer to your exam. I'm sorry that I decided that maybe you just needed a break for once, apparently that was a huge mistake." Jennie responds and gets up as she kicks Jisoo's crutches away in front of her.

"I'm fine." Jisoo mutters again.

"Keep on trying to convince yourself, maybe one day that will actually come true." Jennie spat, and with that she takes her leave.


	9. Chapter 9

It was lunchtime, and Jisoo and Lisa were headed together towards the cafeteria. Although she was aware that she has been sporting a foul mood for the past few days, she was still grateful that her best friend did her best to be patient with her. 

She was also thankful that Lisa didn't push her in helping her do tasks, like climbing up and down the stairs. Lisa did her best to understand how she was coping up with her injury, and because of that, she had agreed to go to lunch with her when earlier, she just wanted to be left alone.

As she got inside, her face fell when she saw that a lot of people were lining up to get food. She should have just accepted Jin's offer to cook food for her, but since she was too stubborn, she had refused. Now, she was starting to regret it.

She didn't want to go and stand there and be gawked at while waiting for her turn. She had enough of them looking at her with pity as she limped around towards her classes.

Lisa seemed to sense her apprehension and smiled at her, "Hey, why don't you find us some seats and I'll go get the food instead? We don't want to end up waiting until a table gets freed up." she says casually, "Just give me some cash and I'll go on ahead."

Jisoo smiled back, she was lucky that she had a best friend like her, "Okay." and took some cash from her pocket and gave it to Lisa, who then walked on ahead without a backward glance. 

She looked around and saw a free table. She immediately hobbled over there, cursing herself as she was not used to her crutches yet. Thankfully, she got there before someone did, and carefully sat down. 

She took her phone out of her pocket and began tinkering with it, she didn't want to think that other people were watching her.

After a few minutes, she felt someone sit down from across her. Lisa was back.

But when she looked up, instead of her best friend, she was seeing the smiling face of that blonde girl that Lisa had a crush on. She was taken by surprise.

She looked around, trying to make sense of it, maybe she was at the wrong table? But the other girl continued to stare at her, making her feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Uhm...do you need something?" Jisoo finally asked her.

The girl grinned at her, she was weird. She should warn Lisa about her, she might be a crazed serial killer or something.

"No, not really. You're Lisa's friend, right?" she spoke, and Jisoo could hear a hint of an accent in her Korean. 

"Uh, yeah? Why? You have business with her?"

The other girl shook her head, "Nope. I'm Rosé by the way. You can also call me Chaeyoung, that's my Korean name. I know you're Jisoo. A lot of people do, I think."

Jisoo didn't know what to say to that. If she wasn't looking for Lisa, then why was she talking to her?

"Okay? I still don't know why you're here." she says harshly, but that Rosé girl just smiled back again at her.

"You know..." she starts, "...it's fine to be angry, scared even. People just don't understand what it feels like to lose something very important to you." she tells her in the most understanding tone possible.

Jisoo gave her a cold stare, "I know you're Lisa's friend, but whatever I am going through is none of your business."

"My best friend died two years ago." she suddenly says, catching Jisoo by surprise, "Yeah, I know it's not the same as yours. But the grief you go through, the feeling of helplessness, of thinking that you could have done something about it, I can relate to that. You don't want to be pitied or being a burden to others, you feel so angry at everything that you just want to lash out at the world. That doesn't make you a bad person, that just makes you human."

Jisoo looks at her, speechless.

"It's okay to take your time to heal, and I don't mean just your injury, but the pain that nobody can see. Then, when the pain is too much to bear, don't be scared to lean on your friends. I know you would still feel alone, despite having people around you, but having someone help carry your burden makes the load a little bit lighter. You'll be okay Jisoo, just believe in it."

Jisoo just stared at her, she basically said everything she was feeling without even knowing a thing about her. She was about to say something when Lisa arrived with their food. She was also surprised when she saw Rosé at their table. 

"Hey Chaeng, what are you doing here?" she asked, confused. Rosé looked up at her and smiled.

"Hi Lisa, I was just getting to know Jisoo, she seems cool. Anyway I got to go, I promised Joy and Yeri we'd practice my audition song this lunch. Just thought I'd dropped by to say hi." she tells her as she slowly gets up.

"It was nice meeting you, Jisoo unnie. Anyway Lisa, I've got to go, I'll text you later!" she said, giving Jisoo a wink and waving a goodbye to the other girl as she rushed towards her next destination. 

"What was that about?" she asked Jisoo, while she watched the girl's retreating figure. 

Jisoo shrugged, "She's kinda...straightforward. You have weird taste." she says as she takes her tray from Lisa's hands.

"What?" the younger girl gave her a puzzled look.

"But I'm all for you asking her out." 

*************************

As the days went by, Jennie continued to go to Jisoo's house after school, despite the argument that they had in Math class. Jisoo continued to rebuff her help, but she still refused to be affected by the other girl's mood swings.

Yes, she knew she can easily not subjugate herself to this torture, but she did it anyway, telling herself it was because she didn't want to have problems with her mom. It was certainly not because she didn't like seeing the other girl so despondent. Nope, it wasn't.

But Jennie was aware her time was ticking, because two days from now, Jisoo's grandma would be home. By then, the opportunity to persuade her would come to an end, because out of all the people who would never ever welcome her into that house again is her. Plus, she would definitely tell her mom, and that would cause a lot of problems she didn't want to deal with.

She also did not want to do this at school, it was too much of a hassle, and her friends would find out. 

She massaged her temples as she stood outside of Jisoo's house. This was a nearly impossible task, she was already feeling the strain. She hated arguing with the other girl every time she visited. She was sure Jisoo did too, but what was she going to do?

She breathed in, shaking her hands as she closed her eyes and gave herself a pep-talk. 

She was going to do this no matter what, come hell or high water, she was going to convince Jisoo to agree for her to help her with her Math, or whatever else!

Determined, she rang the doorbell, which was opened by Jin after a few seconds.

"Hey Jennie, you're here early." he greeted as he opened the door wide for her.

"Hey Jin! Yeah, we didn't have a lot of activities to do, so I decided to just come by here and see how Jisoo is doing." she says, putting her hands in her pockets as she entered the living room.

"No luck yet?" he asked, his tone sympathetic.

"No, I figured it wouldn't be that easy anyway. Knowing our history and all."

"True. Well, I wish you the best of luck. She's upstairs, as usual." Jin said as he looked up towards the stairs, "I'll be cooking dinner if you need anything." he says.

"Alright, thank you." Jennie responded as she headed towards the staircase and climbed up towards Jisoo's room. She paused at the door, getting herself prepared for what was about to happen when she steps in. 

Once she felt ready enough, she opened it and found Jisoo busy playing something on her PC.

"Oh my God, this is the third wipe! How hard is it to put the fucking electric poop on the right fucking place instead of the middle of the fucking raid? It's not rocket science!" she heard Jisoo complain to someone on discord as she put her hands up in frustration.

"Oh seriously, to be honest you're just dead weight. You're lucky our our raid leader is nice enough to be patient with your scrub noob ass!" she tells the person she was playing with, her voice rising. It seems they were having an argument online. She couldn't hear since Jisoo was using her headset.

"Fuck you and git gud you scrub! Oh no, don't defend him CrazyCatLady! You know he's a liability to our raid ever since he joined! He always can't get a fucking clue about what to do. He never studies the fights, he makes a lot of mistakes and is always taking stuff from our guild bank!" ( _A/N: CrazyCatLady is Lisa lol)_

Jisoo pauses as she listens to whatever they were talking about on discord. Jennie swore she could see smoke come out of her ears. 

"Well then, if you love him so much, keep him on the team! You don't need me, go find a new tank, or better yet, let McLuvin tank for you since you guys want to defend his sorry ass. I don't care if he's nice, if he can't perform, let him fuck off and go find a scrub casual team on the server! I'm out, Shadowlands sucks ass anyway!" she said and Jennie saw her close the game and throw her headset at the PC. Then she puts her hands on her face as she tries to calm herself down.

Jennie bit her lip, what was she going to do? Jisoo was super upset, and it would definitely turn unpleasant if she tried to push her agenda of helping her out today.

She supposed she could slowly back away and just return tomorrow when she was in a better mood. 

So Jennie did just that, she made sure to step away as slowly as she could so Jisoo wouldn't notice her presence. Once she was near the door, she saw the girl look up and rake her hands through her hair. Sighing, she saw Jisoo's shoulders slump as she fixed the placement of her headset, "What is it Jennie? I know you're there." she asks, her voice heavy with sadness.

Jennie froze. She didn't expect for her to notice her here.

"Well?" she asked again when Jennie didn't answer.

"Uhm...I'm here as usual to offer my help." she responds uncertainly.

Jisoo swivels around her chair and takes a glance at her before she looks away again, taking her phone from her desk. She noticed that the girl looked tired, her eyes were sunken and Jennie could feel she wanted to disappear from here. "You know my answer Jennie, and I just don't have the energy to argue with you today, okay?"

She understood how Jisoo felt, she did, but she also knew she didn't have a lot of time.

"Please Jisoo, I know you need this. Please, just think about it." she tells her, as she sees Jisoo's frown deepen even more. 

Jisoo began to stand up, her going was slow, but she made herself do it. Then, she walked towards her bed and plopped herself on it once she was near enough to do so, "Jennie, I'm telling you, you are just wasting your time here. Instead of staying, do something you deem fun with your free time. I am sure you are not having the time of your life being in an argument with me."

Jennie walked nearer towards her, leaning her back on Jisoo's desk, "To be honest, I am not, but I also don't want to leave here without doing everything I can to convince you."

Jisoo rolled her eyes and lay herself on the bed, closing her eyes, "Suit yourself. I'm still not saying yes."

Jennie knew she meant it, what was she going to do? Jisoo would never agree, not in a million years, she was sure of it. But why was she so adamant about this even when she knew this was futile?

She looked around the room helplessly, why was she being stupid about this?

As her eyes roved around, she suddenly spotted something familiar on Jisoo's desk. Something she never thought would see again. It was just behind her monitor, but she was certain what it was. She reached out behind it and carefully picked up the item. She put it in front of her and smiled as she rubbed the face of the small, pink rabbit in her hands.

"You kept it." she whispered, as she continued to play with the rabbit's face.

"Huh? Kept what?"

"Mini Gaji." she answered, as Jisoo abruptly sat up.

The other girl was staring at her as Jennie's smile grew wider, fond memories were playing in her head.

"It's...I...I didn't notice it was there." Jisoo denied, stuttering as she went, but the hint of pink in her cheeks betrayed her.

Jennie snorted, "Sure. I remember how much you complained that you couldn't get it in the fair because you wanted it to be paired with the original Gaji."

Jisoo scratched the back of her head, looking sheepish, "W-well, it was cute like Gaji, s-so I kept it there. It was not because you gave it to me or anything like that." she says defensively. 

Jennie wanted to laugh, but decided not to push it, this was her opportunity.

This was the key to getting Jisoo to agree with what she wanted.

"Hmm..I seem to remember something. It's a bit vague, but I'm pretty sure someone promised me something when I gave this to her." she says as she puts a finger on her chin, pretending to recall that moment.

Jennie could see that Jisoo's face turned into a darker shade of pink, it was obvious she had remembered what she was talking about.

"I think your memory is playing tricks on you." Jisoo tells her as calmly as possible.

It was almost too easy when she thought about it, but she had no other choice.

"Oh? I don't think so. I may be forgetful with some things, but I am pretty sure about this. As I recall, when I won mini Gaji in that shooting booth, you told me that I had one free pass of asking you to do anything, _anything_ at all because you were so happy I got it for you." she says, while grinning widely. She could see the horror on Jisoo's eyes.

"Foul! That was a long time ago, and we aren't friends anymore. So basically, that offer's null and void!" she argued, but Jennie knew she had this in the bag.

She looked up the ceiling, ready to go in for the kill, "I see, you're right. We aren't friends anymore, so I guess it's fair that we forget about that promise."

She could see the relief flood in Jisoo's face, "Y-yeah, that's right, it can't be done anymore." she agreed right away. 

But of course, Jennie had other ideas.

"So that means you wouldn't mind if I took mini Gaji with me? After all, I did the heavy lifting, so to be fair, I own this little bugger."

Jisoo stared at her incredulously, "No way! You gave that to me so it's mine!"

Jennie pulled a face and shrugged, "Rules change when you aren't friends anymore. I can still return it of course, but that means you'll have to keep your promise. I don't want to impose, it's your decision after all."

The other girl scowled, she knew she had fallen into her trap and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Jennie, you know what you're asking for is not going to work. My grandma will be home soon and Irene will be here next week. How can you teach me under those conditions?" she says, exasperated.

Jennie gave Jisoo her most winning smile, "I'll find a way. So that means you agree to keep your promise in exchange for this cutie?"

The other girl was glowering at her, "What choice do I have? This is fucking blackmail!"

Jennie puts her hand on her chest, pretending to be hurt, "I have done no such thing!"

"Oh shut the fuck up, Jennie Kim. Fine, I'll do it. Just return the rabbit...please."

Jennie wanted to jump for joy at her success, but she controlled herself and threw the small stuffed toy towards the other girl, "There you go, he's all yours again."

Jisoo caught it and carefully put it beside the original Gaji, which was the exact replica of the smaller one, but only bigger.

She didn't know why, but her heart warmed at the action.

She shook her head, she shouldn't be feeling good vibes about the other girl. They were, as far as she was concerned, having a business transaction. This was not friendship.

Jisoo looked at her, "So how are you going to solve the problem about Irene and my grandma?" she asked her.

"I'll let you know."

She actually had no idea what to do about it.

She was so fucked.

*************************

Lisa and Rosé were laughing on their way towards the Performing Arts center. They decided to go there together so they could have some time to talk with each other.

"I can't believe I passed the audition! I was so nervous, but Joy and Yeri were so sure that I could do it! I mean, have you heard the people in that club? God, they are so good!" Rosé says, her happiness showing on her face.

Lisa couldn't help but grin widely at her, the girl was too cute for words, "Congratulations! I'm sure both of them believed in you because they were able to hear you sing. I know them, and they are really amazing singers! So for them to praise you like that, I'm sure you must have been phenomenal!" she tells her.

Rosé put both her hands on her cheeks, "Oh no, I am really not that good. I'm just okay." she says shyly.

Lisa laughed, "Let me be the judge of that when I hear you sing. You must also play your guitar as an accompaniment." she teased.

"Yah Lalisa! I can't do that! I'll die of embarrassment!" she responds vehemently as the color on her cheeks turned red.

Lisa laughed even harder, "That's the first time I heard anyone call me by my real name!"

"It's because you're asking me to do something that I'm shy about." she pouts, which makes Lisa's heart skip a beat. Why was she so adorable?

"I can't understand you. You play fine in your music class and even joined the Glee Club. Why are you shy about performing in front of me?" she asks her, genuinely puzzled.

Rosé just puffs up her cheeks and furrows her eyebrows, "I just don't want to okay?" she tells her as she slaps her arm and runs ahead of her.

"Rosie!" she calls after her, laughing as she chases the girl.

It was no surprise that she kept on smiling like an idiot during the duration of their dance class, that even Seulgi was eyeing her weirdly the whole time.

I mean who wouldn't? Park Chaeyoug was someone who just radiated happiness, and it was contagious. She didn't want to be cured.

Once they were done, she began fixing her things and Seulgi was still looking at her strangely.

"Did you get food poisoning?"

"Huh?"

"Did aliens abduct you?"

Lisa laughed, "Seulgi unnie, you're being weird.

Seulgi narrowed her eyes, "Did you realize you were straight?!"

Lisa shook her head at her, "Why would I want to un-gay myself?"

Seulgi pursed her lips, "You're right. I mean men? Ew. So why are you grinning like you just won the lottery?"

"Nothing in particular, I just had a good day."

"I bet you had fantastic sex with someone last night."

"Oh my God, unnie! I'm just happy, okay?"

Seulgi was still narrowing her eyes at her when she heard someone clear their throat next to them.

When they turned their heads, she was surprised when she saw who it was that was trying to get their attention.

It was Jennie Kim.

"Uhm...yes?" Lisa asked her, the confusion apparent on her face.

She could tell that the girl was really nervous, but she had this determined look in her eyes that made Lisa curious as to what she wanted to say to her.

"Lisa, can I talk to you?" she asks as she fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

"Uh, sure." she says, as she and Seulgi shared a look.

She sighed, "Alone."

"Oh." she looked at Seulgi, who raised her eyebrows.

The older girl just rolled her eyes and put her palms up, "Fine, I know when I'm not wanted." she muttered as she stepped away.

Once Seulgi was out of earshot range, Lisa looked at Jennie, still quite confused about why she was talking to her.

"Yes?" she asked again, and she watched Jennie take in a deep breath.

"I need your help." she says.

"Okay, is it about your dancing?"

"No."

"Uhmm...okay. What do you need help with?" 

Lisa observed that Jennie seemed to be in pain, it looked like she wasn't really comfortable about what she was about to say about her.

"Look Jennie, if you can't tell me, it's fine. I underst-"

Jennie put her palm up to stop her, and breathed in again as she looked at Lisa in the eye, "IneedhelpwithJisoobecausesheisfailingmathandsheisstubbornandsheneedsaplacetostaywhileIteachher." she talks as fast as she could, leaving Lisa bewildered. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down! I can't understand what you are saying." Lisa tells her, as Jennie gritted her teeth.

"Sorry. It's...Jisoo is failing Math." she says quickly.

"Alright, and what do you need me to do? Do you need me to help teach her?" she asks.

The cat-eyed girl shook her head.

"Jennie, if you won't tell me, we'll be here forever, and I am getting really hungry to be honest."

The older girl puffed up her cheeks, it seems she had decided to go on ahead and let it out, whatever she wanted to tell her about Jisoo failing Math.

"Okay, like I said, Jisoo is failing Math, and in order for me to get the grade that I need for the same subject, Miss Lee asked me to tutor her. Since she agreed-"

_Whaaat?_

"Wait! She agreed? To have YOU tutor HER with Math?!" Lisa asked her, feeling quite shocked. Jisoo was the most prideful person she knew, and to have her agree to her mortal enemy to be teach her with her weakest subject was almost like witnessing a miracle.

"Yes, focus." Jennie says, waving her hand as if it was no big deal. Lisa's jaw went slack, this was unbelievable!

"Anyway, since her sister and her grandma made sure that Jisoo is off limits to my presence, we need a place to stay while I tutor her after class."

She had no idea why that was, she felt curious about Jennie and Jisoo's history, but she was still reeling from the fact that Jisoo had agreed to this. What did Jennie do to make her agree?

"So, I was wondering, since you are her best friend and I am sure you care about her future and well-being, I wanted to ask if we could hang out at your place on some days to help Jisoo out? Don't worry, it's not going to be a daily thing. The rest of it can be spent at Nayeon's place when her parents aren't around. She already agreed to my proposal." she tells her. 

Lisa was still looking at her, trying to process what she was saying.

"So wait, you want Jisoo and you to stay at my place to...study?"

Jennie nodded with a grin on her face.

Was it the apocalypse? Had the end of the world finally happened? Maybe Seulgi was right, she might have been abducted by aliens.

"But Jisoo hates studying. She also doesn't like you, no offense."

"None taken."

"So this is really unbelievable to hear."

"Not surprising. In fact, you're taking it rather well than what I had originally anticipated."

Lisa was still looking at her weirdly.

"How about the library?"

"Can't, people will see us."

Lisa snorted, of course.

"Look Lisa, this is for Jisoo. She needs this." she tells her, and she was surprised that she looked really genuine about it.

This girl was good.

But Jennie was right, it was for Jisoo, and whatever witchcraft pact they had made couldn't change that fact.

At long last, she finally relented, "Fine. When are you going to start?"

Jennie gave her the warmest grin she had ever seen, "This Monday."

Lisa wondered if her parents would kill her if they both somehow blew up their house.


	10. Chapter 10

"I can't believe you forgot it."

"I'm sorry, I just didn't think about it when I have my leg to worry about all day!"

"Can't you just take this seriously?"

"Not when you're the one forcing me to do this!"

"You are insufferable!"

"Oh wow, and you're a ray of sunshine!"

Lisa sighed as she watched Jennie and Jisoo bicker back and forth as they walked towards the school's parking lot. Apparently, Jisoo had forgotten her assignment in her locker and Jennie had to walk back to get it for her. The older girl insisted she be the one to do it, but Jennie was adamant that she doesn't push herself too much.

Of course, that resulted in them arguing, and Lisa wasn't looking forward to spending time with them like this.

This was going to be a long day.

"You always insist on what you want."

"Because it's good for you!"

"You don't know what's good for me!"

"That's what you think!"

"Well, sorry MOM!"

Lisa had enough.

"Alright, ALRIGHT! Jesus, please, for the love of God, stop your bickering!"

The both of them clammed up and looked at her furiously.

"If you guys are going to continue with this, then I am not going to let you study at my place. I can't have you screaming your heads off. If you want, you guys can go kill each other right here right now, I don't care. But if you really want this to work, you better start acting civil towards one another."

They glared at each other.

"She started it." Jennie tells her, almost pouting.

"You were being pushy." Jisoo responded.

Lisa felt they were going to start up again.

"Guys! Focus!"

They stared at her, both of them looking as stubborn as ever. 

Lisa gave them a stern look.

"If you really want to do this, promise me that you will stop fighting. That means, from the time you see me so we can head to my place until you go home. After that, I don't care what you guys do. You can duel on the streets or whatever."

"But-"Jisoo started. Lisa put her hand up.

"No buts, Jisoo unnie. You either agree, or it's a no go."

They started glaring at each other again. Finally, Jennie let out a breath and rolled her eyes.

"Fine. I promise."

Jisoo was almost red in the face from trying hard not to agree, but in the end, she relented.

"Promise." she mumbled.

"Good. Now shake hands." Lisa ordered. 

It looked like it was almost torture to them, and Lisa was starting to have fun seeing them like this. 

After a minute or two, Jisoo put up her hand first, which surprised Jennie. Thankfully, the other girl didn't do anything that might embarrass her, and shook her hand instead. They quickly let go and Lisa could see that her best friend was grumbling something to herself.

Lisa clapped her hands together and smiled, "Awesome, we have progress! Now let's go, time is money, friend!"

They were about to head to Jennie's car when Lisa heard someone call out to her.

"Lisa! Lisa, wait up!" 

All of them turned around to see who it was, and to Lisa's pleasant surprise, it was Rosé. She was running towards them with a huge smile on her face.

When she was almost near them, she could feel her heart flutter at the sight of her. She couldn't help it, she was really pretty.

"Lisa! I was looking everywhere for you! I was hoping you and I could go to Hong's Diner and hang out for a bit. But I guess you already have company. Hi Jisoo unnie!" she says in one go while waving at her best friend, who gives a small smile in return.

She would have wanted to do that, too bad she had to help these guys out. 

"I would have loved to Chaeng, but we already set something up earlier." Lisa tells her, truly sorry that she had to turn the girl down.

"Oh I see." she says looking a little bit disappointed.

Jisoo cleared her throat, "You know, you're welcome to join us if you'd like."

Rosé's face brightened up, "Really? Is it okay?"

"Definitely. Right guys?" she says, looking pointedly at Jennie, who automatically grinned at the other girl.

"S-sure!" she agrees, though Lisa could feel she was forced to do so.

"Yep! You can, if you want to!" Lisa says, nodding her head nervously.

Though she had to admit, she was a little bit surprised that Jisoo had taken the liberty to invite the girl with them. She never did anything like this before.

"Awesome! Let's go then! Oh and hey, I'm Rosé by the way, you can also call me by my Korean name, Chaeyoung." she tells Jennie, who then gives her a genuine smile.

"I'm Jennie, it's nice to meet you, Rosie." she says, which made the blonde girl giggle.

"It's Ro-zay, but you can call me Rosie all you want, it's fine." she tells her, and then they both laughed.

"Alright, since we are all set, let's go!" Lisa interrupts, as she walks first towards Jennie's car.

When they finally arrived, Lisa had introduced Jennie and Rosé to her parents, who were in the kitchen making dinner. They were very happy to see that their daughter had made new friends. 

If they only knew.

They headed on upstairs and Lisa took them to their study. Her dad loved to collect books, and this was his mini library of sorts. This was where she liked to do her homework since it was pretty peaceful and the place was very conducive for learning.

Both Jennie and Rosé looked around and looked pretty impressed with it.

Jisoo on the other hand, who had seen this room multiple times, sat down on one of the chairs, looking gloomy. She was definitely not looking forward to the prospect of having Jennie tutor her. 

The cat-eyed girl saw her and decided to follow suit. She then rummaged through her bag and got all sorts of things that they might need for today's lesson.

Her best friend just gave a resigned sigh and watched as the other girl wrote something on her paper.

"Well, you two just do your thing over there and me and Rosé will also finish our assignments over here."

"Okay." Jennie says, as she looks up at Jisoo, "Ready?"

"Yeah, whatever." the other girl shrugged. Lisa gave a small smile and decided to leave them be.

After thirty minutes or so, Jisoo's face was already scrunched up in confusion as Jennie tried to explain the lesson to her.

"Jisoo, next, we have to consider the 45˚ angle that forms a 45, -45˚and -90˚right triangle as shown on this chart. The ratio of the sides of the triangle is this..." she explains as she writes it down for her. 

Lisa glances up at them quietly, and she looked sorry at her best friend because she looked like she was having the most miserable time of her life.

"Okay..." she answers quietly, but obviously still looking very confused at what she was seeing.

Jennie stares at her, and then puts down her pen, "Jisoo, do you understand anything that I am teaching you right now?"

Jisoo gave a side-eye glance, "Uhm...a little?" 

Lisa was preparing herself for a Jennie Kim outburst, this didn't bode well.

But to her surprise, Jennie takes a look at the paper, and points at something.

"Can you tell me if you have fully understood number one?"

Jisoo looked at her blankly.

"Jisoo, be honest. Tell me if there is something you haven't understood, don't just nod like you do with Miss Lee." she tells her, but the way she said it was kind, gentle even, that Lisa had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

Jisoo paused and glanced at Jennie, then she inhales and looks down at the floor.

"Uhm...no. Not really." she mumbled.

Jennie nodded, "Alright, how about we do this instead."

Lisa's jaw dropped as Jennie explained the whole thing again, but in a different way, but this time making Jisoo participate in the process. 

It was like she was living in the Twilight Zone.

"Aren't they cute?" she heard Rosé gush beside her as she watched the two arch-enemies being actually civil to one another. Lisa almost choked at what she said.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"They look cute together." she repeated again as she smiled serenely at them.

Lisa couldn't help but chuckle, "I'm sorry, it's just funny to me because these two really hate each other. In fact, before you came along, they were about ready to commit murder." 

Rosé wiggled her eyebrows, "Yeah, the tension between them earlier could be cut with a knife. But, I don't think they really hate each other." she says.

"Oh trust me, they definitely despise one another."

Rosé pursed her lips, "I dunno, they do seem to project that, but I just feel there is more to it than what meets the eye. I mean, check them out now."

Lisa glances at them, and she saw that Jisoo was smiling a little as she wrote down the solution while Jennie watched her. It was still too unreal, but Rosé was right, it almost looked like they never really had the mutual animosity they had towards one another.

In fact, if she didn't know any better, they could pass as a cute couple.

Jisoo would kill her if she told her that.

Lisa looked at Rosé, "I mean, I did make them promise to be civil to one another while they were here."

The blonde girl gave her a knowing smile, "Hmm...perhaps. But anyway, who am I to make assumptions? I just met them. Besides, I'm curious, why are they studying here at your place?"

"Hmm...apparently Jisoo is failing Math, and their teacher asked Jennie to tutor her so she could pass and also get the grade she needs for the subject."

"But why here though? Sorry, I don't mean to pry, you don't have to tell me."

Lisa thought about it for a bit, but she felt she could trust the girl, so she decided to give her a bit of information.

"Nah, it's fine. Well, it seems that Jisoo's grandma and older sister hates Jennie. To be honest, I don't know what's their history, and why they always end up fighting. I never asked my best friend and she never opened up to me about it, which I respected. Plus, Jennie doesn't want to be seen with Jisoo in school or at her house because she's kinda homophobic and so is her family."

Rosé gasps and immediately puts her hand on her mouth, "Oh my God, really?"

Lisa nodded gravely, "Really."

The blonde looked pensive for a bit, then she observed both girls again. The two of them were very focused on their lesson.

"Jennie is really patient with her, I can't sense any underlying frustration from her teaching Jisoo, she seems to be genuinely doing her best. It's like she understands why your best friend feels frustrated about the subject."

"It could be because she needs something."

"Yes she does need something, but the way she acts right now, it's like she's doing it because she wants to. I don't know, I'm just making up things in my head." she says, shrugging.

Lisa smiled at her, "You look cute doing that."

Rosé smirked, "Doing what?"

"Making up things in your head."

"Are you saying me being delusional looks cute on me?"

Lisa laughed, "No, of course not! Gosh, that was so lame."

Rosé grinned, "I'd give it a 4/10, for effort."

"That was just a warm-up."

*************************

"Is everything clear now?" Jennie asked Jisoo once again for the nth time. She had to, she knew how Jisoo tended to say yes for the sake of it because she didn't want to bother people with her issues.

"Yeah, I think I have the hang of it now." she tells her honestly, and she could see she was telling the truth.

"Good. If you're still confused with something, don't hesitate to send me a message so I can help you out with that right away."

"Okay." she readily agrees. 

Jennie then fixes some more papers and gives it to her, "I made some practice tests. Don't worry, they aren't too long. Math just takes a lot of repetition in order for you to get it. You'll be fine, I'm sure."

"Alright, thanks Jendeuk."

"No problem, Chu." she answers absentmindedly, and then both of them immediately froze as they realized what they had just said.

_Shit._

It had been a long time since they last called each other that.

It was because the setting was familiar, too familiar. It was like nothing had changed. Today, they were just Jisoo and Jennie, friends, and not enemies.

Jisoo immediately looked away and stood up.

"Oh hey, you guys are done?" Lisa asked as she watched Jisoo walk away from Jennie as fast as possible.

"Uhm, yeah. Bathroom." she mutters as she quickly opens the door and heads outside.

Lisa looked at her best friend weirdly, "Uhm, okay? Well anyway, I think my parents are about done with making dinner. Gosh, I just realized how famished I am!" she tells Jennie.

She didn't know if she could continue to stay one more minute here, not after what had happened.

"Uhm, yeah, about that, I really couldn't stay too long, Lisa. My parents want me home early, so I really need to go." she tells her, trying to sound sorry.

"It's fine, I'm sure my parents will understand. That's too bad though because my dad is a mean cook. Well, I mean he is a chef, so you will definitely get mind blown by his cooking."

Jennie smiled, "Maybe next time, I really can't stay right now." she says as she puts all of her things in her bag. She was certain Jisoo wouldn't be too happy seeing her either after that.

"Alright, I'll go with you downstairs." Lisa offers.

"Thank you."

As soon as she was home, she immediately entered her room and collapsed on her bed. She was an idiot, how could she let herself get carried away by memories that didn't matter anymore?

It was stupid, she shouldn't be overthinking this. Besides, if Jisoo didn't call her by her old nickname, she wouldn't blurt it out either, right?

Right?

She groaned, she just got carried away, that's it. No need to overreact. Anyway, she reminded herself, she was doing this for her grade, nothing more. 

People may see her as petty, but they were lucky that their moms weren't as strict as hers. Where even a B meant punishment.

She continued to lay on her bed, her thoughts drifting far away towards a time when things were simpler.

When she could genuinely laugh at the corniest jokes in existence.

When these stupid things didn't matter so much.

But this was now, and this was reality. They just weren't meant to be friends, they just had different priorities and beliefs in life. 

She bit her lip, why was she getting bothered by this all of a sudden? 

It was too dramatic.

She huffed and decided to dial the number she hadn't been communicating for the past few days. This would help get these stupid things off of her mind.

She listened as the phone rang in her ear. Finally, after the third ring, somebody picked up from the other line.

"Hello, Jennie? What's up?"

She transferred her phone to her other ear.

"Hey Kai, are you busy?"

"Not really. Do you wanna do something?"

"Yeah, I'm just bored and I am getting really hungry. My parents won't be arriving till late at night and I just didn't want to have dinner alone."

"Alright, sure! I'll go ahead and get you in about...15 minutes? That okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Cool. I'll see you soon, Jennie."

"Yeah, see you." she says as Kai ended the call.

She looked at her phone and sighed. She didn't really want to go out, but she didn't have much of a choice. She wanted her mind to be busy and not be filled with thoughts of the past. To remind herself that it didn't matter.

She had made her decision and she felt there was nothing wrong with it. 

She made the right choice.

Didn't she?

She stood up and looked at the mirror.

If she made the right choice, why did she need to convince herself that?

If she did make the right call, why was it ever since that day, she hadn't stopped feeling so guilty?


End file.
